


Among Us: A Novelization

by The_Good_Wario



Series: Among Us: Some Novelizations [1]
Category: Among Us (Video Game), Star Trek, The Thing (1982)
Genre: Gen, Horror, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Science Fiction, scifi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26705935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Good_Wario/pseuds/The_Good_Wario
Summary: Aboard the Intergalactic Alliance ship The Skeld are imposters, but no one knows who is real and who isn't. Can the crew survive the trip back home or will the imposters assimilate or kill them all?Based off the game, inspired by The Thing and Star Trek.
Series: Among Us: Some Novelizations [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161974
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

“Captain’s Log: Intergalactic Date 71919.9. My name is Captain Gary Williams, one of the twelve souls aboard the Intergalactic Alliance Ship The Skeld. My first mate and the Chief Officer is Alice Leonard. We are currently departing from a failed recovery mission that had us land upon the planet Omega Psi Five dash Five dot Two. Our crew is currently in their respective posts as I sit within the Administration chamber. Charles ‘Charlie’ Hobbes, our helmsman, is with Alice and they are currently within Navigation and directing our ship to Intergalactic Alliance Outpost Polus to report our findings in person. The trip will take a week at the very least and everyone is ready to be dismissed for shore leave as soon as possible."

Listening to the captain’s log from the security chamber was Scottie Crawthon, chief of security aboard The Skeld. The captain’s log would become a matter of public record so there was no issue in listening to the transmission.

“Does the Captain ever say anything worthwhile in hindsight?” Scottie’s co-worker asked.

“No Eleanor, he really doesn’t. Nothing exciting happens in space in this quadrant. Throughout our search of other life we have rarely found any beings that match human intellect.”

“So does that mean I can go back to my post in Communications?”

Scottie nodded, so Eleanor exited the Security Room and went towards the Lower Engine where the head engineer Tommy Knocker was doing a check up on it’s performance ability.

“Hey Tom, how’s The Skeld holding up?”

“She’s holding up fine Eleanor, she’ll be able to make her way to Polus with no issue at all.”

“That’s swell.” Eleanor said with a smile before looking around “Hey Tom? Where’s our cadet?"

“Rachel? She’s at the upper engine, doing what I’m doing."

“Is it safe for the cadet to check on it all by herself?”

“She’s fine. She’s a fast learner and the very knowledgable on IA ship construction,” Tommy replied as he spoke into a walkie-talkie “Isn’t that right Rachel?”

“10-4 Tommy!” The Cadet replied as she held a scanner over the upper engine. “The Skeld is in ship shape and having no issue.”

“Fantastic Rachel, can you go check on the reactor?”

“Sure will Tommy!” Rachel put her scanner away and then walked over to the reactor, which was situated between the two engines and powered them both. It also provided power to the rest of the ship, which was managed within the electrical chamber.

With her scanner, it read that the reactor had a slight imbalance within it but that it would not be a major issue unless messed with in some way.

“Rachel?” A male voice spoke over her walkie talkie.

“Yes Dr. Meyerson? How can I help you?”

“Please, call me Max!" the voice replied "I’m currently in the Oxygen Control Room right now, can you tell me how much water is currently in the reserves?”

On a screen right by the reactor was an indication for how much water was being stored in the water reservoirs. It showed that it was currently decreasing from 97% and relatively fast.

“It’s decreasing Doctor, maybe the cook is currently using it to prepare dinner?”

“I’ll go talk to him, over and out.”

Max then stepped out of the Oxygen Control and took a left towards Weapon Control, where Samantha was cleaning the set of twelve IA Issue Series 47 Hand Phasers.

“Hi Sam” Max spoke, but his greetings failed to engage with the battle wrung Quartermaster. With a shrug, he made his way to the Cafeteria where Salieri was cleaning off the tables and floor. The cafeteria was where the crew not only ate and mainly socialized but was also where the Meeting Button was located. In the center dining table, if anyone wanted to put the crew on high alert, the cover would be lifted and everyone would rush to the Cafeteria.

“Sal?” the doctor asked “You not using too much water, are you?”

Sal looked at the janitors bucket he was armed with before looking back at Max.

“Max, this is all the water I’m armed with. Maybe Henry or Louise are using water?”

“Where are they?”

Sal quietly pointed to the hall that led to the Medbay. With a sigh, Max made his way there and saw the two finishing up an autopsy.

Omega Psi 5-5.2 was a planet chosen as the most ideal for human colonization in the Ohm Solar System as it was the most like Earth. The first team of colonists landed on the planet 6 months ago. Within a month of it’s settlement, the colony began radio silence and broke regulation. After numerous attempts to communicate with the colonists, The Skeld was sent to find out what happened to the inhabitants during what would have been the first supply run to the colony.

The only sign of remaining human life was currently being hosed down in the Medbay by the ship’s nurse, Louise.

Henry Rodman, the ship’s doctor, was currently unwrapping a set of surgical tools.

Max rolled his eyes as he watched the water poured into the drain to be filtered and recycled into the ships water systems.

“It was really that bad that you needed to get a hose?!” Max shouted.

Henry sighed as he turned to Max “Yes, it was with in my medical opinion that it was necessary to wash off the blood-soaked body bag before putting it on one of the gurneys.

Max rolled his eyes and looked over the body bag.

“Are you _certain_ that this is the only piece of human life that we found, Max?” Henry asked as he began wiping down the remaining blood with towels.

“We looked throughout the whole facility and we checked every room! The sealed body bag we found in Omega Psi’s Medbay is without a doubt the only bit we found.”

Henry shrugged “Fine. Now if you don’t want to be overwhelmed by the stench of corpse I suggest you leave.”

“I will. In fact, I have to check the shields before we reach warp and hold roll call.”

Max then left and made his way back to the Cafeteria and towards Storage, which passed by the the Kitchen and the Administration Chamber. Saleri was now baking bread while the captain was still speaking into his log. Through Storage, Max passed by Communication and entered the Shield Chamber to test their strength and found that they working at full power.

“As Captain,” Gary continued “I find it necessary explain my worry if something shall go wrong on the way to IA Outpost Polus. During our exploration of the planet, we did come in contact with various materials but we have all used the colony’s sterilization hall before getting back on The Skeld. In case of an emergency, we do have two escape pods that are connected to the engines but since The Skeld is a tightly run ship and can withstand the worst that space has to offer, but I worry about what circumstances could require the use of them. Captain’s Log over and out.”

“HA!” Scottie exclaimed.

“What’s so funny?” Eleanor asked.

“The captain is being paranoid…”

“I guess.”

“Now we wait for the captain to begin Roll Call in five…four…three…two…”

“Crew of the IAS Skeld, this is Captain Gary William. Please wrap up your duties and make your way the cafeteria for Roll Call.”

“Man you’re good at that” Eleanor complemented as she and Scottie hopped out of their seats to make their way to the Cafeteria.

“Aww…” Louise complained “We were just about to slice up the corpse!”

Henry looked at Louise is confusion as he began extracting fluid from the corpse “You were looking forward towards the dissection?”

“Sort of. I’m just curious as to how things tick.”

Henry shrugged as he took the vial of fluid and put it in the Medbay centrifuge before making his way to the cafeteria with Louise.

Standing by the emergency button was the Captain and in his hand was a tablet computer with the rest of the crew surrounding him.

“Right everybody, you know the drill. You are all wearing an IA issued and verified crew uniform. Your color indicates your role on the ship and we will be going in chromatic order, starting with white. When I say your color and role, state your name. Affirmative?”

“Yes sir!” The crew replied in unison.

“Ok! White, Assistant Mechanic!”

“Rachel Juno!” She replied with a salute.

“Pink, Nurse!”

“Louise Prong!” She replied as she popped up one leg.

“Red, Doctor!”

“Dr. Henry McKidd Rodman.” He replied, arms crossed.

“Orange, Captain, that’s me. Yellow, First Mate!”

“Alice Leonard!” She replied as she brushed off the IA insignia on her uniform.

“Light Green, Science Officer!”

“Dr. Maxwell Earl Meyerson” He replied as he fiddled with a scanner.

“Dark Green, Quartermaster”

“Samantha Michelle” She replied as she sharpened her Survival Knife.

“Dark Blue, Security!”

“Scottie Crawthon” She replied as she checked her smartphone.

“Light Blue, Navigation!”

“Charles Hobbes” He replied as he look at a map on his own tablet.

“Purple, Communications!”

“Eleanor Rose! Tee hee!” She replied as she flashed a peace sign.

“Brown, Cook!”

“Saleri Roux.” He replied as he rubbed his belly.

“And finally black, Mechanic!”

“Tommy Knocker!” He replied as he polished his cosmic wrench.

“All present and accounted for. You may now return to your duties.”

With a sigh, Henry made his way back to the Medbay.

“Doctor! Wait for me!” the nurse pleaded as she followed.

Henry silently put in a pair of nose plugs and finally broke the seal of the body bag to begin the autopsy. Despite the nasal blockages, the rancidness of the corpse’s smell still overwhelmed the doctor and nurse so much that they had to run across the hall to the Crew Cabin to vomit into the space toilets.

 **“HURRRGHPFHT!”** Henry exclaimed as he ejected what little food he hadn’t fully digested yet.

 **“GURRRRKKK!”** Louise emitted as she vomited as well.

Samantha, who was resting in her bed after the meeting and drinking a glass of Don Dew witnessed the pair throw up together.

“Oh come on…I saw combat on Mira and saw tons of mutilated corpses of all kinds. What you saw couldn’t be as disgusting as what I’ve seen.”

“It wasn’t the _sight_ of the corpse that was so stomach turning…” Louise retorted as she coughed up the rest of what she could “It was the _smell_!”

Samantha rolled her eyes and went to the Medbay to get a whiff and immediately regretted her decision as she ran to the toilets to vomit as well.

“What the hell is wrong with you three?” Alice asked, wondering what all the commotion was about.

“Whatever…you do…don’t go in the Medbay” Henry warned “That corpse _rancid_!”

Alice took a brief whiff and closed her nostrils “I’ll take your word for it. Take a few moments to regain your composure and get back to the autopsy.”

Henry and Louise nodded, making their way to the cafeteria to put some snacks into their emptied bellies.

Charlie was also in the cafeteria, sipping some Don Dew when he saw Max enter with a tablet under his shoulder and carrying large box labeled “Omega Psi 5-5.2” filled with hard drives, papers, and other documents.

“Hey Charlie, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Navigation?”

“The ship’s on auto-pilot and there’s nothing in the way towards Polus for lightyears.”

Max crossed his arms “Do you mean time or distance?”

“Distance.”

Max eased up as he dumped the box of contents onto the cafeteria table.

“What’s all this crap?”

“This ‘crap’ is all the records we could salvage from the colony.”

“Oh, I see…” Charlie spoke as he examined a hard drive “I’m surprised that so little could be salvaged, it’s like someone was trying to erase all the evidence.”

“Maybe something was but couldn't finish the job.”

As Max looked over broken hard drives, Charlie found a brown hardcover journal that had been torn in half at the spine. While the scientist was trying to salvage data, Charlie began reading the first page.

_Intergalactic Date 71394.3_

_This is the journal of Carpenter Campbell, cook of the Intergalactic Alliance colony on Omega Psi 5-5.2. We have been dropped off by the IA Ship Lerwick to begin habitation here. We have been given enough supplies to survive eight months but we will receive more within six months. We have a population of twenty people here on Omega Psi and we hope to have enough established for new arrivals that are to come in two years…_

Bored with the entry, Charlie skipped to the end of the Journal’s entries. Despite being torn in half, Mr. Campbell was unable to write enough to make it’s way towards the middle.

_Intergalactic Date 71498.6_

_Last week we had found evidence of life that had been on this planet. Less than 72 hours ago we had discovered a cave that had been covered with ancient debris, rocks and sealed with a welded metal door. Less than 48 hours ago a quarter of the landing party is now dead. Less than 24 hours ago over half of the landing party is dead. We have burnt the bodies and have currently sealed up the corpse of Captain Nelson Nada for cremation. While everyone is worried about who killed the rest of the crew, I am the only one to notice a peculiarity between the corpses. Half of them have been killed in ways that a normal murder mystery would showcase, while the rest-_

The writing suddenly stopped within the journal, and in the corner at the bottom of the page were three drops of blood that had soaked into the journal and the following pages.

“Max…”

“Hold on Charlie, I’m trying to make this hard drive work.”

“Max.”

“Gimme a second!”

“MAX!” Charlie shouted, shoving the journal towards him and pointing at the last entry. The scientist quickly sped through the text and handed it back to Charlie.

“Shall we tell the Captain about this?”

“No…we’ll keep this to ourselves, especially when he mocked my suggestion when we first landed on Omega Psi 5.5-2.”

“The one where you said that everyone relied on the buddy system.”

Max sighed “Yes, the one that got me laughed at by half of the crew.”

“I understand…but do you trust me with this information?”

Max looked over Charlie intensely, observing his crew-mate’s whole body.

“For some unexplainable reason, I do.”

Charlie smiled and patted Max’s shoulder “That’s good. Let’s make our way to Navigation and do some star watching.”

The two got up from their seat, bringing the journal but leaving the box of documents. As the pair left, Rachel and Tommy entered the cafeteria. While Tommy went to grab a glass of Don Dew, Rachel went to the box and examined the contents.

“What’s this Tommy?”

“Huh? Oh! That’s the box of files collected off of Omega Psi. Most of it is busted and damaged.”

“Maybe there’s something we can salvage in this?”

Tommy shrugged “Possibly. I don’t know a lot about computing but maybe there’s something with a memory card of some sort?”

The two then began digging through the box and put aside hard drives, tablets, and smartphones as being too hard to decrypt.

“Hey! Here’s something!” Rachel spoke as she pulled outan old digital camera that was manufactured by Simsong. It looked bombproof despite the massive dent in it.

“Open up the side, there should be a SD card of some sort!” Tommy explained.

With the flick of a tiny lever, the side of the digital camera flopped open. Inside was the battery and a 2 Terrabyte SD card.

“Do we have anyway to read this information?” Rachel asked.

Tommy scratched his chin “I think so. SD cards are still used so there should be a reader within Communications.”    
  
The two then left the cafeteria, passing by the kitchen where Sal and the captain were located, the latter of which was washing his hands intently.

“I think you’ve washed your hands _quite enough_ captain…” Sal commented.

“Sorry Sal, after vomiting on myself after I saw the corpse I feel like I had to disinfect myself completely.”

Sal shrugged as he took out a chef knife and the sharpening steel “So do you want to help me with tonight’s appetizers?”

The captain nodded “Sure, what’s the opening course?”

“French onion soup” Sal explained as he sharpened his knife “I need your help chopping onions while I slice other veggies for the salad.”

He then handed the knife over to the captain and pointed to a stack of eight onions. She took one of the onions and began cutting it to take the skin off.”

“Ah this reminds me of when I peeled potatoes as a private!”

“Did you like it?” Sal asked as he started washing lettuce in the sink.

“Not one bit!” the captain chuckled as she threw the scraps into the disposal and began to truly chop the onion up “So what’s for the main course?”

“New York strip steak with smashed potatoes!”

The captain frowned a bit as he continued.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already peeled the potatoes.”

Sam’s smiled returned as she continued chopping the onion and putting the chunks into the pot.

“What should I do with the knife after using it? Put it in the sink?”

Sal shook his head “No captain, see that microwave looking thing next to the fridge?”

“I do.”

“That’s the microwave. See the toaster oven looking thing above it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the toaster oven. See the thing above that?"

“What’s that? The air fryer?”

“No, the air fryer is by the Keurig. That is the sterilizer. It’ll clean off utensils within thirty seconds. The med bay has a similar thing that’s even heavier duty than this one.”

“I see…is there any dessert after the main course?”

“Ah! I will be preparing a particular specialty that I can’t wait to share! Mini Pavlovas with berries and chocolate on them.”

“Sounds fancy!”

“Sounds _excessive._ ” A voice from the hall spoke. It was Alice, leaning against the frame of the door dismissively. “When I was climbing the rank ladder I didn’t have such good food to eat.”

“Now Alice, just because you didn’t have good things in the past doesn’t mean you should complain about the good you have now.”

Alice simply groaned as she made her way to storage.

“She’s gonna try to kill me someday.” the captain remarked.

“Yeah, and I’m going to get reassigned to the Center of Chaos Containment.”

Alice just quietly strolled to storage where she saw Samantha cleaning a IA issue Shotblaster.

“Hello Sam…” With military precision, Samantha put the safety of the weapon on and placed it on the ground before saluting her.

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!”

“At ease Sam… we’re not on Mira.”

Sam nodded and leaned against one of the crates.

“Permission to be frank, ma’am?”

“Permission granted.”

“…You seem pissed.”

“I _am_ pissed…when I see how Gary carries himself on this ship I just feel so…”

“Unappreciated, ma’am?”

“Exactly!” Alice shouted as she tossed her hands up in the air “We were both in the running to take over the ship from the late Captain Hunter Greenwood but because Gary was such a suck up…”

“You forget your behavior during the Tsilindr Clan incident, ma’am.”

“There’s no evidence to prove that I was the cause of the explosion!”

“But there never was any evidence to disprove it either when there was a bunch of video evidence to exonerate everyone else.”

Alice quietly put her hands on her hips “I do know that the reason I didn’t get the position wasn’t because that I’m a woman…” 

“The court martial probably had something to do with it…”

“ _That_ was uncalled for!”

“My apologies ma’am…may I take my leave?”

“Yes you may, but unlock the manifolds in the reactor before you do so.”

Sam saluted before picking up the Shotblaster and passed by Electrical and through the Lower Engine before arriving at the reactor.

Within the security room, Scottie sipped on Don Dew as she watched everyone go about their day and quietly drifted off to sleep, assured that every image would be recorded and obtainable for future record.


	2. Chapter 2

“Autopsy Report: Intergalactic Date 71920.1. This is Doctor Henry McKidd Rodman speaking.”  
  
Dr. Rodman was speaking into a wireless microphone that not only connected to the ship’s record but also input itself into a personal recording device.  
  
“After thoroughly examining the body, the color of the uniform the body was wearing and cross referencing the records of the inhabitants of Omega Psi 5-5.2, I have determined that the body belongs to that of the leader of the colony, Captain Nelson Nada.”  
  
As Dr. Rodman recorded the autopsy, Louise was mopping up the rest of the blood and rancid fluids that had poured out of Captain Nada’s corpse.  
  
“As I speak, I have a rough idea as to how Captain Nada has died. He and some other being had gotten into some sort of combat as his sidearm was removed. While he may have fought valiantly, he had obviously failed. Traumatic Brain Injury, punctures into the stomach, lungs, heart and his right arm that appears to have been…bitten off.”  
  
Louise gulped as she finished cleaning up the mess “Doctor Rodman?”  
  
The doctor paused the recording “You are dismissed Louise, I still have to finish this report.”  
  
Louise nodded and then left the Medbay to make her way to the Cafeteria.  
  
“According to preliminary scans of Omega Psi 5-5.2, there was no evidence of any hostile lives or any native flora or fauna on the planet despite the planet having ideal conditions for sustaining human life. Despite this, I have taken samples of hair, skin, and nails and put them into the analyzer. Oddly enough, while the analyzer normally delivers readings within minutes, it has been more than an hour since I put the materials into the device and while it has determined that there is foreign material on them, the results have currently been inconclusive. I have also filled several syringes with blood and the other bodily liquids of the late captain and put them into the centrifuge. Again, the device has been able to detect foreign material of unknown origins. I have told the analyzer to look through the entire Intergalactic Alliance Compendium including its shortest entries.”  
  
As Dr. Rodman spoke, the doors behind him quietly opened. All he felt was a brush of the wind, the whisper of a breath, an inconsequential puff of naiveté, a low and unnatural hum.

  
“Currently, the analyzer has gone through the first 20 percent of the most common and well known creatures across the universe and is still searching for some answer. As I speak, Science Officer Maxwell Earl Meyerson has been manipulating the damaged hard drives we found on the planet and will deliver his report to me…”  
  
“Right now.”  
  
A deep voice spoke within Dr. Rodman’s ear, freezing the physician up. He felt warm breath tickle his neck and the barrel of what felt like the barrel of a blaster against his back.  
  
“How does it feel to be so close to the truth…but to have it _ripped_ away from you at the last minute?”  
  
Dr. Rodman took slow breaths, daring to turn around to see what beast was standing behind him with the intent to murder…  
  
…Only to find Max wearing a goofy smile as tried not to laugh as he pointed the neck of a Don Dew bottle at the doctor’s back.  
  
“Really Max?” Dr. Rodman spoke, unamused at his crewmate’s joke “You decide _now_ of all times to try to scare me?!”  
  
Max chuckled as he threw away his empty bottle and leaned against the gurney directly across from the corpse that had now been sealed within a fresh bodybag.  
  
“I’m sorry Henry, the set up was too perfect for me not to exploit!”  
  
Henry rolled his eyes as he stopped his recordings and turned to Max.  
  
“I find it to be most unprofessional for you to try to scare me when I’m in the middle of my work!”  
  
“C’mon Henry! Lighten up a bit.”  
  
“I _did_ lighten up a bit earlier!”  
  
“Oh really? When?”  
  
“When I emptied my stomach within the toilet.”  
  
It took Max a moment, but the science officer smirked upon getting the joke. Henry smirked too, and the two then began to share in lighthearted laughter.  
  
“That was a good joke to be honest!” Max declared as he slapped a knee.  
  
“Why thank you for the compliment! Say, were you able to salvage anything off of the hard drives?”  
  
Max shook his head “Sorry Henry, nothing on the hard drives but I did happen to find something of note on this.”  
  
Max took out a two inch flash drive out of his pocket. It was dark green and had a strip of scotch tape with the words “Pax Houston” on the side of it. He tossed it to Henry, who then put it into the ship’s computer. On the flash drive were several files with names such as “Weapon Schematics”, “3D Printer Models”, “Tax Returns”, “Memes”, and “Omega Psi 5-5.2 Photo Journal”.  
  
Henry tapped on the screen where the Photo Journal file was and photos were arranged by Intergalactic Date starting on _71394.3_ and ending at _71493.1_  
  
Most of the photos were basic images of the crew and their camaraderie. Planting seeds, playing games, and customizing their chambers.  
  
“This looks like normal stuff so far Max”  
  
“Yep, but look what happens a few days later.”  
  
The photos then began to focus on what at first seemed like a large pile of perfectly round boulders that had been poured into a pit of some kind. The rocks were all of varying size with the smallest being the size of a bowling ball and the largest being around six feet in diameter. UsingIA Planet Rovers, the balls were removed only to discover a heavy lump of molten lead at the bottom. After breaking the lead away, a large metal plate that was ten square feet big and three inches thick was welded to an even larger metal containment.  
  
After cutting a hole into the metal that was three foot in diameter, it led into the cave of what appeared to be an ancient civilization that once inhabited the planet. Half of the crew members were present upon the breaking of the seal but daylight was fading fast in the photo record.  
  
“Max? Where was this pit of boulders located?”  
  
“Scans of Omega Psi 5-5.2 show that the pit was about a kilometer away from the landing site.”  
  
The doctor scratched his chin as he continued to look through the photos. The rest of the photos appeared to be inconsequential until the two saw a photo of a dead body in a yellow suit lying on the floor surrounded by crew members. The next photo was like that of a crime scene investigation of a top view of the dead body. The photo after that showed the doctor taking the body into the morgue.  
  
  
“The first victim?” Henry asked.  
  
Max simply shrugged as there was only one more photo on the flash drive. It was a selfie taken within the men’s showers of the colony as Pax Houston had just completed shaving. The only unusual thing with in the photo was a blurry pink cable that appeared to be hanging from the ceiling behind him.  
  
“So what can you make from these photos Max?”  
  
“The same things you could make out from them” Max answered as he unplugged the flash drive “That there was a race of beings that had been on Omega Psi 5-5.2 before the colonists arrived and that someone…or something…had tried to seal something away on the planet and that the colonists were insistent on discovering what it was.”  
  
“And do you think what they found in that cave was the cause of Captain Nada’s death and the disappearance of the rest of the colonists?” Henry asked as he gestured to the bodybag.  
  
“I can’t say for certain without more data…” Max answered with a shrug.  
  
Henry just groaned as he looked back at the analyzer, which had only gone through two percent more of the IA Compendium.  
  
Max simply shrugged “Alright, I have to go talk to Alice anyway.”  
  
The scientist walked off, leaving Henry alone in the Medbay.  
  
Max had to get to Communications, so he walked through the Cafeteria and passed through storage, where Tommy and Rachel were sitting on top of a few crates as they hooked up an SD card reader to a laptop.  
  
“Who do you think owned the camera we found?” Rachel asked.  
  
“Well probably one of the science officers,” Tommy explained “There’s light green marker drawn onto the tiny gap one could write something on.”  
  
The laptop began reading the data off of the SD card and displayed a multitude of photos that all were taken around Intergalactic Date 71495.8. The photos appeared to be a collection of cave drawings that were found on the planet.  
  
The images were like that of the Lascaux Caves within France, rudimentary figures but those that clearly showed humanoid figures similar to that of the Roswell Greys.  
  
The first image showed what appeared to be a timeline of the beings’ evolution, like that of the Homo genus. The images also showed evidence of rudimentary sciences like farming, the wheel, and construction. Photos also showed a form of writing on the walls with an older and archaic text having been painted on while a translation in the native’s language had been engraved onto metal plates and attached to the wall.  
  
As the timeline progressed, the imagery grew in quality and detail. The form of the past inhabitants had become further defined and refined within the drawings. The progress of the extinct inhabitants had seemed to echo that of modern civilization leading up to the Intergalactic Era.  
  
But the imagery took a dark turn after their modern era concluded.  
  
The planet had started to become overpopulated, so in order try to produce greater outputs of food the inhabitants had started experimenting in genetics.  
  
While domestication of what appeared to be Omega Psi’s animal life seemed to be successful, the genetic experimentation seemed to consist of literally throwing science to the wall and seeing what sticks. From mashing up seeds to try to crossbreed plants, feeding blood of animals to other animals and even combining mashed up seeds with blood to feed them to the animals, the experimentation was not only chaotic but also clueless.  
  
They eventually gained the understanding that breeding of animals with desirable traits with others of the same traits was the correct way to go, and an Eugenics movement formed among the beings.  
  
Eventually, one of the planets natives took seeds from every known plant on the planet and blood from every form of life and began to give it to a small group of followers to ingest. The chemical solution was then spread throughout the farms to be fed to animals and used to water the plants.  
  
And then the chemical was added to the water supply of the planet.  
  
Scenes of violence then followed. Plants that shared pots were now trying to be the dominant creature. Animals in pens had attacked each other, even if they were herbivores. Murder of peasant and noble was witnessed throughout communities.  
  
The world became divided, each trying to save their own skin and fearing the other. Madness proceeded with plants trying to kill animals, animals trying to kill inhabitants, inhabitants trying to kill plants with no one trusting anyone.  
  
And then monsters came. Beasts with spikes coming out of their mouths to stab the inhabitants, torsos splitting in half like a giant maw, tentacles growing to crush their prey. Exterminations of these beasts included neck snapping, stabbings, and shootings.  
  
But the monsters looked just liked the exterminators, and everyone grew paranoid.  
  
As a last resort, a group of inhabitants decided to hunker down in a bunker to try to weather the storm, bringing all the plants, animals, and equipment they could take.  
  
But the following photos showed how futile the plan was. Not only were there stains of alien blood found throughout the cave system, the sludge of decay had taken over. What appeared to be vents for atmosphere to flow through had been gunked up plants had rotted and withered away, water was tainted, animals had died, and evidence of murder of various kinds was strewn through the abandoned facility.  
  
There were all sorts of rooms. Indoor farms, bunks for the inhabitants, a hospital, management systems, but the biggest of all was a science lab. Although it contained the sludge that the rest of the facility had, there were tools reminiscent of modern science equipment. Syringes, scalpels, tear drop vials, centrifuges, refrigerators. White boards were scrawled in the inhabitant’s text but also were covered in sludge and alien blood.  
  
“It seems like they were doing everything they could to stop this scourge.” Tommy rationalized.  
  
The pair continued to look at the photos. There were images of vials of dried blood and DNA being salvaged from the site along with capsules of the sludge to be taken to the lab.  
  
But the very next photo showed that the blood, sludge, and DNA had all been broken out of their containments and had gone missing, followed by a photo of the body a first victim.  
  
It was the nurse, having been impaled on a spare antenna for the colony base.  
  
“That’s the last photo…” Tommy explained.  
  
“What are you going to do?”  
  
“I’m going to take this to Scottie.”  
  
“Ok, Security should know about this. What about me? What should I do?”  
  
“Don’t tell ANYONE that we saw this.”  
  
“Not even Dr. Max or Dr. Rodman?”  
  
“No! This has to be kept among those who we trust… alright?”  
  
Rachel sighed “Alright. Where do you want me to go?”  
  
“Have you checked the Lower Engine escape pod?”  
  
“Sure have!” Rachel said with a salute.  
  
“Alright, you can go to the Crew Quarters to relax until dinner is ready. I gotta check the upper one and make sure that engine doesn’t explode or something.”  
  
Rachel chuckled a bit before she went dashing past Admin and the Kitchen, the latter of which had Sal show the captain on how to use the fire extinguisher before walking through the cafeteria to the Crew Quarters.  
  
“C’MON YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”  
  
The angry voice came from the Medbay, where Dr. Rodman was angrily staring at the analyzer and centrifuge. Rachel paused, watching Dr. Rodman look at them like a bag of popcorn that refused to pop.  
  
“Dr. Rodman? Are you ok?”  
  
Henry let out a sigh and sat on a chair “I’m fine…it’s just that the analyzer isn’t able to identify the foreign materials on the corpse parts.”  
  
Rachel stepped forward “Maybe we found something new?”  
  
“That’s what scares me. Since we don’t know anything about it, it could be dangerous.”  
  
“Well maybe whatever was dangerous on the planet…died off?”  
  
Henry turned to Rachel “Died off? What makes you say that?”  
  
Rachel let out a sigh as she began to explain the photos she found to Henry.  
  
“A group hunkering in a bunker to try to weather the storm" Henry echoed "That would seem to ma-wait a second!”  
  
“What?”  
  
“If these people were trying to live in a ‘fallout shelter’ why did the people on the outside try to prevent them from getting out?!”  
  
“What are you saying?”  
  
“I mean…if the people in the shelter were looking for a cure, why wouldn’t the people on the outside want to share?”  
  
“Well maybe they thought that it was a ploy to infect the others with some nastier ailment or what was perceived to be nastier? Anti-vaxers still exist despite the mandatory vaccination legislation.”  
  
“I know, but considering both the people inside the shelter and outside the shelter all died, it obviously didn’t work for either party…”  
  
“And it’s still alive, whatever it is.”  
  
“Still alive? All we found was corpses and evidence of death.”  
  
“But what else could have killed the colonists?”  
  
A eerie silence echoed within the Medbay until the chime of the dinner bell rung.  
  
“I don’t know about you, but I could use some food” Rachel spoke as she began to exit, but she noticed that Henry lagged behind a bit. “Henry? What’s wrong? Aren’t you hungry?”  
  
“Hungry? No. I’m _starving_! Ever since the vomiting incident I’ve needed food desperately. I’m just worried about the analyzer and centrifuge.”  
  
Rachel smiled “Henry, you’re just worried! Now come on and let’s have a nice hot meal.”  
  
Henry forced a smile as he entered the cafeteria. Louise, Sam, Dr. Max and Charlie all sat at one table while Eleanor, Scotty and Tommy sat at another. Alice, ever the charmer, sat by herself and was resting her head on her elbow. Sal was absent, putting on the final touches for everyone’s meal. Gary also sat by himself, but had a cheerier disposition than his first mate and sat in the center table to equally be close to everyone.  
  
“Hey Henry, how about we share a…”  
  
Henry had quietly walked off to one of the empty tables, giving it a quick spray of sanitizer before sitting down.  
  
“Hey Rachel,” Tommy spoke “How about you sit with us?”  
  
Rachel smiled and as soon as she sat down, Sal burst into the cafeteria with everyone’s appetizers.  
  
“Alright everyone! Soup's on! We’ve got Gazpacho soup and side salad with each of your particular favorite dressings! After this is the steak to your rarities with smashed potatoes. For dessert we have the Mini Pavlovas!”  
  
A few of the crew cheered as their salads and soups were swiftly served by Sal. He went in chromatic order and their food was on color matching plates.  
  
When he got to Henry, he frowned.  
  
“What’s up doc?” He asked as he presented the doctor his food.  
  
“I’m not feeling to hot, ya know? I’m gonna probably check the analyzer again before dessert just to see if it found _anything_ it could identify.”  
  
“I understand! I’d better give the captain his food! It looks like he could eat with his belly if he wanted to!”  
  
Henry smirked a bit as he poured his ranch dressing onto his salad to start munching.  
  
As Sal served everyone, Rachel turned to Tommy.  
  
“Tommy? Why does Doctor Rodman eat by himself?”  
  
“You don’t know?” The mechanic asked.  
  
“Of course she doesn't know!” Scottie exclaimed “She’s a cadet! This is her first mission.”  
  
“Then why don't you tell me?” Rachel asked.  
  
Scottie finished her salad and put the bowl to the side “He’s always been a bit of a loner. He’d rather mess with his test tubes and experiments than actually socialize. To be honest, with all the automatic medical equipment we have on board he isn't really needed. He’s just kept on just incase the machines break down.”  
  
“And with me around, they won't stay broken for long!” Tommy declared.  
  
“Exactly! So Rachel, just let Henry be. There’s been something brewing in him for a long time and you don’t want to get in the middle of it” She then chuckled “I do like to mess with him though. I watch him through the security cameras and then relay every move he makes. I just worry when he’s gonna give me my comeuppance.”  
  
“How would he do that?”  
  
“I don’t know, maybe let a phaser overload in the security room, I don’t know.”  
  
As soup and salad finished, Sal collected everyone’s plates and brought them to the kitchen before serving everyone their steaks.  
  
While just about everyone was pleased to accept their plate, Charlie fiddled around with his mashed potatoes.  
  
“Charlie?” Dr. Max asked “What’s wrong?”  
  
Charlie sighed “I don’t know…I’ve just been feeling uneasy after we left Omega Psi 5-5.2.”  
  
Max groaned “You feel uneasy after we go to every planet.”  
  
“The baby act has to stop Charlie.” Sam added “You’ve been a navigator for five years now!”  
  
“But I mean it! W-w-whatever was on that planet c-could be after us! It might be in the ship now! _It might be in me!_ ”  
  
“ _Aww…_ ” Scottie mocked “Does the baby want his bottle?!”  
  
Within a flash of action, Charlie grabbed his mug and chucked it at Scottie’s head. The security officer bounced out of her seat and began hitting the navigator.  
  
“ _YOU! LITTLE! BRAT!”_ Scottie shouted, punching with every word.  
  
Charlie fought back, grabbing her fist and gnawing at it.  
  
_“AHH! YOU BASTARD!”_  
  
Gary and Eleanor pulled Scottie off of Charlie while Dr. Max and Alice helped the bruised navigator up.  
  
“You’re bleeding…” Dr. Rodman spoke, approaching Scottie “Did he cut you?”  
  
“No doctor, I think he bit me…”  
  
Henry groaned as he pulled out a sterilizing spray and put on a bandage.  
  
“Charlie, you’re 27 now!” The captain exclaimed “Scottie is right in saying you should grow up a bit!”  
  
“Well Charlie had a point too Gary!” The first mate retorted “We have no idea what could have been on that planet!”  
  
“ **That’s enough.** ” Henry sternly spoke as he made his way stand between the two “We’re meant to be a family here. A family controlling a tightly run ship. If we spend time fighting amongst ourselves, we jeopardize everyone’s safety. We have to work together.”  
  
“Say’s the guy who spends his time in the _Medbay_ all day.” Dr. Max remarked.  
  
“And _you’re_ not spending time in the _Oxygen Control_ most of the time? I have my work space, you have yours.”  
  
“ _Guys please!”_ Rachel spoke, wedging herself in. “There’s no point in having a dick measuring contest here. Everyone’s role is important. That’s why we have back ups. Back up doctor in case the medical devices break. Back up mechanic in case Tommy breaks. Back up captain if he breaks. So just… calm down and… and…?”  
  
“And lets get eating while I get out the Mini Pavlovas! I just have to go add the finishing touches.”  
  
Sal dashed to the kitchen to prepare the final course and everyone else stopped going for each other’s necks.  
  
“I’ll be right back” Sam spoke “I gotta use the restroom in the Crew Cabin.”  
  
“Me too,” Henry added “I’m gonna check if the analyzer has found anything.”  
  
“Me three,” Louise also interjected. “I need to scan my card in Admin, I forgot to do it before we took off earlier.”  
  
“How could you _forget_ Louise?” the captain complained “It’s procedure!”  
  
“Well to tell you the truth captain, with all the excitement of landing on Omega Psi 5-5.2 I kinda lost track of things.”  
  
Captain Gary rolled his eyes “Fine, make it quick.”  
  
“It’s gonna be a bit long considering how finicky the card reader is” Alice remarked.  
  
Louise then skipped down the hall past the kitchen to make her way to Admin with Henry strolling to Medbay and Sam marching to the Cabin while everyone else sat back in their seats.

Gary finished up his steak ravenously while Alice joined where Louise did.  
  
“Hypocritical jerk…” Dr. Max remarked as he finished his steak.  
  
“I don’t think so…” Charlie replied “I mean, we’ve become creatures of habit while in space. We all have our little comfort zones.”  
  
“Exactly,” Alice spoke “Like how I’m the most comfortable _when I’m not with the captain._ ”  
  
Henry soon returned to his seat, just as frustrated as he was before and finished his steak. Louise soon returned and frowned a bit upon seeing the first mate in her seat.  
  
“Here Louise,” Dr. Max spoke as he got out of his seat “Take mine, I’m done.”  
  
Louise smiled as Sam soon returned to finish her meal.  
  
Everyone’s plates were soon cleaned up and then taken to the tray return, with some grabbing glasses of water, Don Dew, or other drinks.  
  
“What’s taking Sal so long with the dessert?!” Captain Gary complined as he rubbed his stomach.  
  
“I’m really looking forward to the Pavolas” Dr. Max groaned “…whatever they are.”  
  
“It’s _Pavlovas_ ” Rachel spoke, correcting the doctor.  
  
“Maybe one of us should go check on him?” Tommy wondered.  
  
“How about we all do so” the captain suggested “We’re all hungry.”  
  
“Some of us more than others” Alice quipped as everyone got out of their seats and down the hall to the Kitchen.  
  
The door to the kitchen was shut, but a pool of crimson liquid poured out from under the door.  
  
“What happened here?” Dr. Max asked “Did Sal spill out the marrycasino herry juice?”  
  
“It’s _maraschino_ ” Scottie corrected.  
  
“W-what if it’s blood?” Charlie asked as he shook nervously.  
  
“It’s probably a leak of hydraulic fluid…” Tommy suggested “No big deal!”  
  
Louise crept down to the floor with a medical scanner “This wasn’t here when I went to Admin…”  
  
With a wave of her scanner, the device was able to instantly detect what the liquid was.  
  
Blood. Human blood.  
  
The captain pressed the button to open the door, unable to see Sal but was able to see 24 Mini Pavlovas arranged on 12 tiny plates.  
  
Sal was nowhere to be found, but a large stream of blood was flowing from the corner of the kitchen. Stuffed into the oven was the front half of Sal’s body, his limp legs lying on the oven door.  
  
Louise and Henry carefully stepped around the blood and carefully pulled Sal’s body out of the appliance.  
  
Sal’s throat had been slit and blood was spilling out of his mouth.  
  
But there was an even grizzlier injury.  
  
In the middle of the dead chef’s forehead was a hole big enough to fit a pinky into that was also pouring out blood. Sal’s eyes were frozen in permanent shock as he truly knew who was the one who took his life.  
  
It was a formality, but both Louise and Henry placed their fingers on Sal’s throat to check for any sign of a pulse.  
  
Defeatedly, Henry let his hands drop.  
  
“Sal is dead.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Sal’s DEAD?!” Rachel shrieked, hugging Tommy tight.  
  
“Who would want to kill the cook?!” Sam asked, moving the chef’s final creation to the side.  
  
“Dinner wasn’t _that_ bad” Henry remarked as he and Louise laid Sal on the kitchen counter.  
  
“How can you make jokes at a time like _this?!_ ” Alice shouted.  
  
“It’s my defense mechanism! If you have a problem with it, take it up with the captain!”  
  
“Alright you two, I don’t want another dead body in the kitchen.” The Captain spoke as he went to look over the body. “Poor Sal… he was a good friend of mine.”  
  
“Maybe we should check the security cameras?” Dr. Max suggested.  
  
“That sounds like a good idea” the Captain concurred “Scottie?”  
  
“Yes Captain?”  
  
“Go to security and look through the files, print out photos for what happened in the past hour.”  
  
Scottie nodded and left for Security on her own.  
  
“Shouldn’t someone accompany her?!” Rachel asked “What if whoever killed Sal goes after her?”  
  
“We’ll all wait in the cafeteria until she returns.”  
  
“But what if she did it and tries to manipulate the footage?” Alice suggested.  
  
“She was in the cafeteria the whole time we had dinner.” Dr. Max remarked “So it’s certain that Scottie wasn’t the one who killed Sal.”  
  
Alice groaned as the rest of the crew minus scottie made their way back to the kitchen, with Eleanor bringing the desserts into the cafeteria.  
  
“Are we gonna eat those now” Louise asked.  
  
“Lets at least wait till Scottie gets back…” Tommy remarked.  
  
The tray was placed on the table with the emergency button and everyone dispensed glasses of Don Dew or other drinks. Charlie shook in worry as he sipped his drink, Alice rubbing his shoulders.  
  
“I-I don’t wanna die in space!” Charlie whimpered.  
  
“I understand…I once had a near death experience once.”  
  
“Really? What happened?”  
  
Alice put her glass down “It was during the Tsilindr Clan incident. I had to crawl though a metal tunnel and the ship I was in had it’s belly scrapped. It was crushing my torso and I ended up blacking out.”  
  
“How did you s-survive?!”  
  
“Sheer willpower kid, sheer willpower.”  
  
Charlie then glared at Alice “Don’t call me kid!”  
  
Alice sighed and walked away from Charlie.  
  
As everyone wandered through the cafeteria, the Captain made his way to Henry.  
  
“Doctor Rodman…”  
  
Henry sighed “Yes Captain?”  
  
“You’ve said that the analyzer can not determine what was in the corpse you found.”  
  
“It hasn’t been able to determine what was in the corpse _yet_ captain.”  
  
“Are you stalling?”  
  
“Stalling?! No! The analyzer is going through the whole IA Compendium and has found NOTHING that matches the make up of the unknown components so far.”  
  
The Captain sighed “Look, I know that you haven’t had a lot to do and even your tasks aren’t really in your field…”  
  
“It’s fine Captain, but I didn’t do it. And once Scottie is finished looking over the tapes, I will be completely exonerated from your accusations.”  
  
 ** _BOOM!_  
  
** The lights flashed in the Cafeteria and the ship mildly destabilized. The crew grabbed onto the bolted tables, lighting figures or anything that wasn’t tied down. Charlie rushed out of the Cafeteria to make his way to Navigation to right the ship.  
  
Eleanor watched as the dessert tray started to fall off it’s table, so she jumped from one to the other to prevent the sweet treats from being wasted.  
  
“CHARLIE! HEY CHARLIE!” Alice shouted.  
  
“HE CAN’T HEAR YOU ALICE!” Dr. Max complained.  
  
The ship then began leveling out and everyone got their footing as they gathered their composure.  
  
“What the hell happened?!” Rachel asked.  
  
“Sounded like an explosion…” Tommy spoke.  
  
The Captain made his way to the intercom “Charlie? How’s the reactor? How are the engines?”  
  
Charlie pressed a few buttons in Navigation “The…they’re both fine, but there’s massive electrical failure within…Security!”

“Report back to the Cafeteria Charlie.”  
  
“10-4”  
  
Charlie soon arrived, and the ten crew members walked past the Medbay and the Upper Engine to see what the hell happened to security.  
  
The door had burst open from the inside and chunks of metal had dented the Reactor door opposite it. Broken glass, burnt papers, and pieces of wire were strewn across the floor.  
  
Sam entered the room first, followed by the Captain, Dr. Max, and Eleanor.  
  
Slumped on the chair of the Security room, facing the now destroyed screens and ruined memory banks was the body of Scottie Cawthon. The explosion was so intense that it caused one of the monitors to fall onto her head like it munched her like some giant beast. Her torso was bleeding out immensely along with her internal organs splattered on the floor.  
  
“I don’t think we need Dr. Rodman to check Scottie’s pulse.” Sam remarked.  
  
Eleanor was shivering, holding back tears “S-scottie…no…m-my best friend!”  
  
The captain quietly hung his head “First Sal…now Scottie…”  
  
“Why would anyone want to kill Scottie?” Eleanor asked as she wiped her face.

  
“Maybe her death was unintended.” Dr. Max suggested “The person who killed Sal might have blown up the security room to erase the video evidence of the crime and the method happened to put Scottie in the crossfire.”  
  
“Then what do you suggest we do?!” Sam demanded.  
  
“I suggest that we take the bodies to the Medbay and we’ll have Dr. Rodman do some medical tests on the bodies, then he’ll give me some of the genetic materials for me to experiment with in Oxygen.”  
  
“That sounds like a good plan Max” The Captain concurred “Tommy, Rachel, and Sam will clean up the kitchen. Eleanor, Charlie and Alice will work here. Dr. Rodman and I will be in the lab while Louise accompanies Dr. Max as he does his tests.”  
  
The crew groaned at the prospect of cleaning the messes but it was part of the requirements of managing The Skeld. Dr. Rodman put Sal’s body in a bodybag while the Captain did the same for Scottie’s. Within Storage there were mops, brooms, trash bags, and all the instruments needed to clean up damage from an unknown missile or a death on the ship.  
  
In the kitchen, Tommy began washing the inside of the oven while Rachel began mopping the blood and Sam was sweeping ruined materials off the floor.  
  
“To be honest…” Rachel began “If anyone was going to die on this ship, I thought it was gonna be Dr. Rodman!”  
  
Sam took offense to this remark “Why do you say that? Because he’s black?”  
  
Rachel gulped a bit “N-no miss! It’s because of his uniform, him wearing red and all paints an obvious target on his back to die.”  
  
Tommy popped his head out of the oven “What do you mean?”  
  
“Oh come on, don’t tell me you haven’t seen a lot of old sci-fi,” She turned to Sam “You know what I mean, right?”  
  
Sam just angrily glared at Rachel while shaking her head. With a sigh, the cadet frowned.  
  
“I’m sorry Sam, I didn’t mean to offend you.”  
  
“You better start thinking twice about what you say! Being a black woman during the battles on Mira means you’re seen as less of a soldier than the others. During the battle of…”  
  
“Oh there you go, prattling off about your military career. Don’t you talk about _anything_ else?!”  
  
Suddenly, the lights powered down all over the ship and dark red emergency lights turned on.  
  
Tommy groaned as he pulled out his Tablet and spoke into it.  
  
“What the hell happened?”  
  
“Sorry Tommy!” Charlie spoke “We needed to turn the electrical systems off so we can disconnect the broken components for cleaning. Can you turn them back on?”  
  
“Sure thing, I’ll be there in a bit.”  
  
Tommy began to leave the kitchen, leaving Rachel with Sam.  
  
“Oh he is _so_ dead.” said Sam.  
  
“Dead? Why do you say that?”  
  
“Easy. The electrical room is dark, cramped, has poor visibility when trying to see anyone come from behind you due to a large wall and is the easiest place for an ambush. If I were to go in there, I wouldn’t enter unarmed.”  
  
Rachel rolled her eyes as she finished mopping and began looking for paper towels to dry the floor off. Instead, she found cabinets of all the foods and one that was locked with a keycard.  
  
“Sam? What’s this?”  
  
Sam took a look and saw the locked cabinet.  
  
“Pfft, cheap second hand retrofitted lock. Sal probably has the key but I can break into it.”  
  
Sam went to the knife block and saw all the knives and the sharpening steel in their proper place.  
  
“That’s odd…”  
  
“What is it Sam?”  
  
“If Sal was killed with the sharpening steel, it’s clean as a whistle.”  
  
Rachel shrugged as she took out the widest knife she could find and approached Rachel.  
  
“Sam…” Rachel spoke “…I know you may not trust everyone.”  
  
“Calm down Rachel, I’m not going to stab you. I’m gonna stab the drawer. I think it’s an electromagnetic lock.”  
  
Rachel rolled her eyes as she got out of the way of Sam kneeling on the floor. With military precision, she stabbed the knife in the gap where the lock was. With a creak, the magnet detached from the cabinet and allowed the door to be open.  
  
“Oh…my…god!” said Sam.  
  
“Oh no! What is it?!”  
  
Sam reached in, carefully and with intent and pulled out a bottle of Vodka.  
  
“It’s Sal’s liquor storage!”  
  
Sam pulled out vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and several styles of whiskey like Mac Daniels, Bullet Bourbon, Johnny Strider, and J&D.  
  
“I think we deserve a bit of a dinner aperitif!” Sam exclaimed as she put the bottle of vodka on the counter.  
  
Rachel shook her head “I don’t think so… at least not until this is all sorted out.”  
  
Sam shrugged and poured a shot of vodka and sipped it, but not before immediately spitting it back out.  
  
“Gah! That’s not what the Russians at The Wall drink!”  
  
“Cause that’s Gin…”  
  
Sam looked at the bottle and it was indeed Gin. She rolled her eyes and began reaching for the right bottle. As the solder poured a proper glass, Rachel grabbed the bottle of J&D and planned on hiding it in her bunk to take a nip from later.  
  
“Are those lights on yet?!” Charlie complained as he wrapped up the last bag of broken electronics.  
  
“I’M GETTING THERE!” Tommy retorted “YOU TRY RECONNECTING WIRES WITH ONE HAND!”  
  
Charlie sighed and put the final bag down while Alice swept the papers and glass with Eleanor sticking herself in the security console.  
  
“What are you doing Eleanor?” Alice asked.  
  
“Trying to find the cause of the explosion. It couldn’t have been a bomb as we don’t have any plastic explosives on the ship.”  
  
“Maybe they were taken off of Omega Psi 5-5.2?” Charlie suggested.  
  
“Negative,” Alice replied “All the explosive stores were used when we searched through the planet. Whatever was done to cause this must have been improvised.”  
  
“And improvised it was!” Eleanor spoke as she crawled out of the console with a broken device.  
  
“What did you find Eleanor?” Charlie asked.  
  
In Eleanor’s hands were fragments of a Series 47 Hand Phaser. The handle and barrel were intact but the energy core had broken from the inside.  
  
“How did this happen?!” Charlie said, shaking a bit.  
  
“It was intentionally overloaded, like a champagne bottle with weak glass and a strong cork. But it would have taken several Hand Phasers to cause the destruction that we saw.”  
  
A large clang and the rising hum of electrical boot ups reverberated through out the ship as the electrical systems rebooted.  
  
“Sam could have done this” said Eleanor.  
  
“That’s not fair to her!” Charlie pleaded “Just because she’s a soldier doesn’t mean she is the only one with weapons knowledge.”  
  
“Exactly!” Alice added “It could have been any of us because we all know how to use phasers. It could have even been Sal as he could have planted them in while he was cooking before he died.”  
  
Eleanor groaned “Well we don’t have any evidence to full support any of out theories…our hopes of finding out something rely on Dr. Rodman and Dr. Max.”  
  
The three agreed and all began finishing up the clean up of Security and prepared to reconvene in the Cafeteria to try to calm down.  
  
The bodies of Scottie and Sal were placed next to each other as Dr. Rodman drew blood out of Sal’s corpse. The Captain was meanwhile looking at the analyzer and the centrifuge.  
  
“Do you think you can find out who killed Sal and Scottie?” He spoke despondently.  
  
Dr. Rodman groaned as he wrote Sal’s name on the vials. “Damn it! I’m a doctor not a CSI agent!”  
  
“I understand…but Sal and Scottie were good friends of mine…”  
  
“Of _ours_.” He replied as he put the vial into a rack.  
  
“Yes Henry, of ours…” the captain spoke “What are you going to do with the bodies?”  
  
“Scottie and Sal have to be processed as according to their wills, so their bodies have to stay here.” He replied as he drew blood out of Scottie.  
  
“Ah yes, according to regulation” The captain spoke as he poked the analyzer and centrifuge. It was at 52%. “This thing sure is taking a long time.”  
  
Henry sighed “It’s going through everything we have in the IA Compendium to try to find answers for what we found on the planet.”  
  
“And if it finds anything…?”  
  
“We isolate it, study it, and then classify it depending on how dangerous it may be.”  
  
“Dangerous?”  
  
“Yes, the IA Threat Scale. It’s very similar to how papers are graded in school. F being so un-dangerous that it’s begging to be killed, D being harmless, C being domesticated but possibly dangerous, B being tamed but dangerous, A being heavily intelligent to the level of human understanding and the two highest classes are the most dangerous of them all.”  
  
“And what are they again?”  
  
“X means incredibly dangerous but can be controlled and allowed to live. Z means that it is so dangerous that it’s extinction is necessary for protecting all other life in the universe.”  
  
“Has there ever been a creature or substance with Z classification?”  
  
Dr. Rodman wrote Scottie’s name on her vials “Yes.”  
  
Gary gulped “What are those creatures like? Giant beasts that eat planets?”  
  
The doctor chuckled “No, such beasts are under the X scale as we have the technology to defeat them. The Z class is for those invisible nasties. Diseases, viruses, bacteria, parasites. HIV/AIDS,Marburg, Ebola, Smallpox, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and numerous others. Many have been eradicated but any new one has the potential to have devastating effects.”  
  
Gary gulped as he watched Henry place the vials into a heavy case with foam buffers. He then picked up the case as he began to exit the Medbay with Gary to meet up with Max.  
  
“What should we do if we if someone else dies?” Henry asked.  
  
“You don’t really think someone one else is going to die, do you?”  
  
The two walked through the cafeteria and saw the rest of the crew save for Dr. Max and Louise, who were in Oxygen when Henry and the Captain arrived.  
  
“Hello Captain, Henry.” Dr. Max said to greet the two. He was preparing devices for writing a report while Louise was cleaning the equipment.  
  
“Hello Dr. Max,” The Captain spoke “Have everything you need other than the blood?”  
  
Dr. Max nodded “I should. All crew members have blood samples taken before deployment and Louise and I have taken our spare blood out of the storage for comparison.”  
  
Dr. Henry placed the vial case on to the table and left with the Captain.  
  
“I don’t trust those two…” Louise spoke as she opened up the case and started taking vials out.  
  
“What makes you say that?” Dr. Max spoke as he took out samples of Sal’s and Scottie’s spare blood.  
  
“I can’t say…It’s just that when I’m with you I trusty you intrinsically, but when I see the Captain or Henry, something doesn’t click.”  
  
“I know what you mean…but it’s funny…”  
  
“What is?”  
  
“I never had this feeling before we landed on Omega Psi 5.5-2.”  
  
“Me neither… but I do remember one thing.”  
  
“When I saw Sal and Scottie dead…a feeling of relief came over me.”  
  
“Me too, as if we felt safer without them alive.”  
  
“Is that wrong to think?”  
  
“I don’t know…”  
  
Max took a pre-mortem vial and a post-mortem vial of both Sal and Scottie’s blood and put them in the comparer.  
  
“Louise, I can handle this for now. You can go back with the rest of the crew.”  
  
Louise nodded and made her way to the cafeteria and was a little saddened with what she saw.  
  
Tommy, Eleanor, Rachel and Gary were sitting at one table and playing a game of cards. It was as if they were the school bullies and they didn’t want any other members. Rachel however seemed like she was the new bully who didn’t exactly fit in.  
  
Charlie, Sam, and Alice were sitting together and playing a board game. They felt like the old friends that she could trust, nothing could drive them apart at all.  
  
And finally there was Henry. He sat alone with a glass of Don Dew and looked over his notes as he played a game of Solitaire. He felt like that one loner kid, the one that everyone thought was going to snap and kill everyone one day.  
  
“Got any sixes?” Tommy asked Gary.  
  
The captain sighed as he handed over his six to Tommy.  
  
“Got any tens?” Gary asked Eleanor.  
  
Eleanor rolled her eyes and handed a ten over.  
  
“Got any eights?” Eleanor asked Rachel.  
  
Rachel looked through all of her cards “Nope! Go fish!”

Eleanor shrugged as she reached into the draw pile and was able to pull out a pair of queens for herself.  
  
“Hey guys?” Louise asked “Can you deal me in next hand?”  
  
“You can take my cards” Rachel spoke as she got up from her seat.  
  
“Where you going?!” Gary asked.  
  
“I want to check on Henry, see if he’s ok…”  
  
The others groaned as Louise took Rachel’s cards and looked them over.  
  
“My turn?” Louise asked, prompting the others to nod “Ok…got any fours?”  
  
Rachel walked over to Dr. Rodman and noticed he was reading up on the IA Threat Scale and was specifically looking up those involving Z Class.  
  
“Henry? What are you looking at?”  
  
“Trying to find a disease with the most unusual symptom ever.”  
  
“And that is?”  
  
“The intent to murder.”  
  
Rachel frowned “The only disease that I can think of that could do that is Rabies.”  
  
Henry shook his head “Rabies makes you aggressive, it doesn’t make you want to meditate murdering someone. Rabies is something that changes you visibly. If we have come in contact with something that gives one a psychopathic desire to kill rather than a sociopathic one, we might have found a disease that is not dangerous to the host, but rather the people around them.”  
  
Rachel shivered and reached to hold Henry’s hand, but the doctor took it away with a sigh.  
  
“I know you want comfort, safety and security but you might not find it in me or anyone. You might have this disease or I might have it. Any of us might have it. I know I’ve kept to myself but it’s for everyone’s safety, at least that’s what I tell myself.”  
  
“So what do we do for now?”  
  
Henry sighed “There’s safety in numbers. Dr. Max is by himself but he should be safe if we’re together.”  
  
Suddenly, an alarm went off.  
  
“What’s going on?!” Rachel shouted.  
  
“It’s the Oxygen alarm!” Charlie explained “It’s leaking from the ship!”  
  
“Ah shit!” Sam shouted.  
  
“What do we do?!” Rachel shouted again.  
  
“Two people need to reactivate the Oxygen supply!” Tommy explained.  
  
“I’ll go!” The captain declared “Eleanor, you come with me! Max must have accidentally pressed the wrong button or something.”  
  
Eleanor and Gary dashed through Weapons to get to Oxygen while Alice ran to the opposite door.  
  
“C’mon everyone, lets get to the escape pods!”  
  
“Are you kidding?!” Tommy shouted “We’re good for two minutes, the Captain and Eleanor with Max can bring the oxygen back online ASAP.”  
  
“Do you w-wanna take that chance?” Charlie asked “Not me!”  
  
The navigator then ran towards the engines, followed by Sam and Louise.  
  
“Henry! Rachel!” Alice shouted “Are you coming or not?!”  
  
Henry sighed as he stood with Tommy “I think we’ll be fine!”  
  
Rachel walked over to Henry and Tommy “Me too, they’ll be able to…”  
  
“ **OXYGEN DEPLETED IN 60 SECONDS. MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ESCAPE PODS.”  
  
** “THE CAPTAIN IS AWAY FROM HIS POST! TO THE PODS! NOW!” Alice shouted.  
  
“YOU’RE NOT THE CAPTAIN!” Tommy retorted.  
  
Worried, Rachel grabbed Henry’s arm “C’mon! We’ll need you!”  
  
“No! Go without me, Louise will be your doctor.”  
  
Rachel nodded, but as she began to leave the Cafeteria the alarm halted.  
  
 **“OXYGEN SYSTEMS: NORMAL. RESUME YOUR DUTIES!”  
  
** “Told ya.” Tommy remarked dismissively as Alice crossed her arms and sat. While the un-evacuated crew returned so did Charlie and Eleanor.  
  
“Max just pressed the wrong button during the test!” Eleanor said to comfort the others.  
  
“Alright then,” Rachel said with a sigh of relief “And Max?”  
  
“He’s doing fine” the Captain said assuredly “He’ll be done in a bit, let’s just wait till he’s finished and we’ll see what he’s found out.”  
  
Everyone went back to their seats with Henry and Rachel sitting alone at their own tables, patiently waiting for what Max discovered.  
  
Hopefully it would be enough to ease everyone’s minds.


	4. Chapter 4

Resting one of the Cafeteria tables was the Pavlovas, almost begging to be eaten. The group had come to a vote that they wouldn’t eat dessert until they found out who or what was responsible for the deaths of Scottie and Sal. Rachel stared at the treats the most and did her best to restrain trying to take one of the tiny treats.  
  
She was restless, but so was the rest of the crew. It had been thirty minutes since the oxygen systems were restored and Dr. Max had not come back since then. The remaining crew continued to play their games, stewing under the pressure.  
  
Another thirty minutes passed, then an hour, another hour. Charlie had gotten out the Jacks and Ball; Rachel and Dr. Rodman were doing a cats cradle while Eleanor, Tommy, and the Captain were trying to play Kill Dr. Lucky but none of them could even complete the game.  
  
Alice was pacing by the large bay window of the Cafeteria, arms crossed and completely unsatisfied.  
  
“What the _hell_ is taking Dr. Max so long?!”  
  
“Science takes a long time…” The captain replied.  
  
“It shouldn’t take that long!” Louise replied as she got a new glass of Don Dew.  
  
“Maybe we should go check on him?” Sam asked.  
  
“I second that” Alice added.

“As Captain, I disagree.” Gary spoke.

“And I agree with the Captain.” Tommy added.  
  
“That makes two to two.” said Rachel.  
  
“I think we should go!” Spoke Louise.  
  
“Me too!” Charlie added as he picked up his final jack.  
  
“I don’t think so.” Spoke Eleanor.  
  
“And I think we should give the doctor a little more time.” Dr. Rodman added.  
  
“So that’s…” Rachel sighed as she finished counting on her fingers “Four to four, an even split. Who has the deciding vote?”  
  
“You do Rachel.” Tommy answered “You determine whether or not we check on Dr. Max.”  
  
She looked at the group of those against her. They all looked at her in frustration, as if they were going to shun her for disobedience. Dr. Rodman was the only exception, as he seemed uncertain about his decision. The group for her looked at Rachel pleadingly, worried about the good scientist and willing to risk finding out the truth.  
  
“Since I have the final vote…we should go check. Better safe and sorry.”  
  
The captain groaned “Alright, lets go. It’s not like it’s gonna waste more time on this ship.”  
  
“Quit whining!” Alice remarked “It’d be a good bit of exercise for all of us.”  
  
Everyone got up from their seat and began walking through weapons to go to O2.  
  
-[+]-  
  
“The results of my findings are terrifying.” Dr. Max began as the crew listened intently.

“We have come in contact with something so dangerous that it not only takes over one’s body but manipulates their biological structure so that they can become a deadly beast. Whatever we came in contact with, what ever has infected us, it has dominated the biological structure so much that the host works to sustain the needs of the parasite but without killing the host. When mixing a sample of Sal’s pre-mortem blood with his post-mortem blood and looking under a microscope, the post-mortem blood began absorbing and working to control the cells. The same happened with Scottie’s blood in the same experiment. I worry if I’ve come in contact with this creature, and I’m preparing to take out some of my own blood for a new test. If my blood is taken over, I will know that I am safe. If not, I will know that I am monstrous but something tells me that I am no creature.

It’s strange however that those that died were beasts before anyone else knew it, but even I suspected at some point that the two victims were not themselves. Maybe their deaths were necessary in preserving the safety of the ship.”  
  
“That’s preposterous!” Tommy shouted “Why kill someone you suspect without any evidence?!”  
  
“I don’t know why anyone could guess or detect an evil presence in another, but whoever killed Scottie and Sal must have subconsciously known that they were not themselves. I am about to draw my own blood for the test.”  
  
The crew hung their heads as Dr. Rodman stopped the recording that Dr. Max made.  
  
“Whatever beast Dr. Max was talking about,” Henry began “It obviously got him.”  
  
On the floor of the oxygen chamber was what was left of Dr. Max. He has become half the man he had used to be as he had been bifurcated at the torso. Blood and stomach acid had spilled onto the floor as his lime green suit was slashed open. His glasses were on the floor and had been stepped on.  
  
Sam and Charlie had left together to grab a new body bag while Rachel and Tommy mopped the floor.  
  
“Someone should have been with him…” Louise spoke.  
  
“Well no one thought of it earlier” the Captain replied.  
  
“I should have been with him” Henry added “I’m just as good as a scientist as he is.”  
  
Charlie and Sam returned with the body bag and placed Dr. Max’s legs into it.  
  
“At least Dr. Max is half as heavy as Scottie and Sal were!” Eleanor commented.  
  
Charlie and Sam glared at Eleanor before taking what was left of Dr. Max to the Medbay.  
  
“I don’t trust Eleanor” Sam told Charlie “He could have killed Dr. Max while she went to help during the oxygen leak.”  
  
“But what about the Captain? She was with him!”  
  
“They must have been in cahoots. But we can’t guarantee that it wasn’t anyone else!”  
  
“Who do you think it could have been?”  
  
Sam and Charlie then placed Dr. Max’s legs on a medical bed.  
  
“If there’s anyone I believe it could have been to do it to everyone, it’s Dr. Rodman.”  
  
“Dr. Rodman? Why him?!”  
  
“He left the Cafeteria before Sal died and could have easily caused the explosion in Security. He could have also gone and killed Dr. Max during the blackout.”  
  
“I understand.” Charlie replied “Something about me doesn’t trust him anymore, but I can’t put my finger on it!”  
  
“Whatever it is, just keep it to yourself alright Charlie?”  
  
The navigator nodded and when they were about to leave, an announcement came on the PA.  
  
“This is the Captain speaking. Everyone to the Cafeteria immediately. We are going to put a stop to this once and for all.”  
  
Charlie and Sam sighed as they went to sit at the middle table in the Cafeteria. The rest of the remaining crew sat and everyone glanced at each other in suspicion.  
  
The Captain then stood from his seat “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a killer on the ship. Not only do they kill others much like how one sees in a murder mystery but they are also are a creature of a dangerous nature.”  
  
Everyone looked at each other nervously as the Captain spoke.  
  
“Before Sal, Scottie, and Max died… several people were out of view and might have taken the opportunity to kill their crew-mates. Because of this, I suggest we spill our beans and if anyone’s story seems inconsistent or questionable… we remove them from the ship.”  
  
Rachel gulped, Charlie shook, Dr. Rodman sighed while Alice stood and slammed the table.  
  
“Remove them from the ship?!” Alice shouted “How can you suggest such a thing?! What if we end up ejecting an innocent life from this ship, huh?!”  
  
“E-E-E-Exactly!” Charlie stammered “Do we want to risk such an outcome?”  
  
“Charlie’s right” Sam spoke “Everyone here is on edge after the deaths of the crew. Everyone’s bound to be sus of someone.”  
  
“Sus?” Rachel asked.  
  
“Short for suspicious” Sam clarified “Short words are better transmitted over military radio.”  
  
“Well I’d rather take action on this ship than let some enemy that looks like a friend take my life!” Tommy shouted “I’m up for ejecting someone.”  
  
“Ladies and Gentlemen…” Dr. Rodman spoke “I think it’s best if we consider this democratically. How about we vote whether or not we should eject someone despite the fact they may not be an infiltrator. If yes, we’ll then discuss where we were before Sal’s death up to Max’s…”  
  
“Well I vote against ejection!” Alice said with a determined pout.  
  
“I’m with Alice!” Charlie spoke as he stood next to her.  
  
“Well I’m for ejection” the captain responded “Who’s with me?”  
  
“I am captain!” Eleanor said with a determined smile. She was then followed by Tommy, then Dr. Rodman.  
  
Sam and Louise walked over to Alice, leaving only Rachel to choose. Again.  
  
“C’mon Rachel!” Louise pleaded “What if you get voted off?!”  
  
Rachel began stepping forward to Alice’s group, but then she turned to Dr. Rodman.  
  
“Rachel…just do what _you_ think is right. Go with your gut.”  
  
The cadet hung her head and sighed. Her boss Tommy was with Alice but she didn’t feel comfortable having half the crew against her in either case. If one of them had the imposter among them, she would probably be a target.

Yet something drew her to Dr. Rodman. Despite his silence and introverted-ness, he seemed safe and those he was with made her feel safe too because of him.  
  
She stepped forward, joining the captain’s group. Alice scowled, loathing the fact that her limited authority was not being recognized for the umpteenth time.  
  
Everyone sat back down and the captain pulled out his tablet.  
  
“Alright, Sal was last seen by everyone around the time Charlie and Scottie had their fight…” The captain spoke.

“Giving Charlie plenty of motive to try to kill Scottie” Tommy remarked.

“I didn’t kill Scottie!” Charlie shouted.  
  
“Gentlemen, please!” Rachel pleaded.  
  
“Yes sirs, lets go chromatically to remember who was where after Sal left.” the captain replied. “Rachel, where were you before we found Sal dead?”  
  
Rachel scratched her head “I…don’t think I left the cafeteria at all…”  
  
“Ok then” the captain spoke “Louise?”  
  
“I went to scan my card in Admin and came right back!” She answered with a smile.  
  
“Admin is across from the kitchen” Tommy remarked “You could have killed Sal on the way back.”  
  
“But how could have she also sabotaged the security room?” Charlie wondered “It’s a long way to get there…”  
  
“Let’s just stick to our alibis for now everyone” the captain spoke “Dr. Rodman?”  
  
“I went to the Medbay to check on the analyzer”.  
  
“And you could have planted the explosive in Security and then killed Sal by taking a different door into the cafeteria!” Louise rationalized.  
  
“But does anyone remember whether or not Henry came back through the same door he left in?” Eleanor asked.  
  
Everyone became quiet again with their attentions turning back to the captain.  
  
“As for me, I remained in the Cafeteria. Alice?”  
  
“I did the same as you did, _captain_ ” Alice replied with a sneer.  
  
“Ok Alice” the captain responded with a sigh “Max is dead so we can’t ask him.”  
  
“He stayed here.” Louise remembered.  
  
“Ah, right. And Sam?”  
  
“I went to the bathroom in our quarters before we found Sal dead. I went the opposite direction from the kitchen so I couldn’t have killed him.”  
  
“But you may have put the explosive in security.” Eleanor spoke with a glare.  
  
“Don’t go accusing me because your best friend is dead!”  
  
“Ladies!” the captain shouted “let’s not fight here right now. Scottie would be next but she’s also gone…Charlie?”  
  
“I remained here after the f-fight…” Charlie replied.  
  
“And I was still here too.” Eleanor chimed in.”  
  
“And Sal’s dead,” Tommy spoke “while I remained here.”  
  
“Right then…” the captain spoke “that means that Henry, Louise, and Sam had left the cafeteria before Sal died.”  
  
Louise looked around nervously while Sam glared at a frowning Henry. A cold silence blanketed the remaining crew, each of them wondering who would be the first to make an accusation or build a defense.  
  
“I think Henry is sus…” Charlie spoke.  
  
“Henry?!” Eleanor shouted “Why Henry?!”  
  
“Well if Sam went to the bathroom, she should have passed the lab.” Charlie argued before turning to Sam “Did you see Henry in the lab when you went to take care of business?”  
  
Sam scratched her chin but then shook her head “No, I didn’t see him.”  
  
“Well I must have been out of view then.” Henry countered “I could have been checking on the dead bodies after looking at the analyzer.”  
  
“Or you could have used the opportunity to plant the explosive in Security before killing Sal!” spoke Alice.  
  
“And you know how to use the sterilizer!” Louise shouted “You could have killed Sal and then cleaned the weapons in that device before putting them away!”  
  
“Exactly!” Sam added “And you would know what vein to slit to make Sal bleed out.”  
  
Sam, Alice, Louise and Charlie all stared at Henry who was shaking slightly.  
  
“You may have a point there, but I have a point myself.”  
  
“And that is?” Alice asked sternly.  
  
“Louise knows how to work the sterilizer too… she’s a nurse and uses the device like I do.”  
  
“Precisely!” Tommy stated “I don’t know how to operate it; only Sal, Louise, and Henry would know.”  
  
“I agree with Tommy” the captain spoke “And Louise went directly towards where the kitchen was to go kill Sal.”  
  
“But how could I have planted the bomb in Security?” Louise asked.  
  
“You could have killed Sal, then walked to security.” said Eleanor.  
  
“It’s Henry!” Louise shouted.  
  
“It could have been you!” Rachel retorted.  
  
“Enough everyone…” the captain spoke as he fiddled with his tablet “We’ve heard each other’s stories and I think we have a good idea of what we think about each other.”   
  
Gary then showed the tablet to everyone. It was a three by three grid with every remaining crew member’s color on it.  
  
“This is how we’ll vote. First, you press your color; second, you will see red and pink; you will then touch the color of who you want to vote off.”  
  
Captain Gary looked at the pad and pressed his color and his vote. He passed it to Alice, the two glaring at each other before they handed off. Dr. Rodman quietly voted for his, then Sam, Tommy, Louise, Rachel, then Eleanor.  
  
Once Charlie was handed it, the captain spoke up again.  
  
“Once he picks his vote, we’ll find out who we have voted off.”  
  
Charlie nervously looked at the crew. Louise looked pleadingly at Charlie while Henry just hung his head. He made his vote, and the results appeared on the tablet. Quietly and breathing heavily, he turned the tablet towards the rest of the crew.

**VOTE TO ELIMINATE  
CHIEF PHYSICIAN HENRY McKIDD RODMAN: 4 VOTES  
SECOND PHYSICIAN LOUISE PRONG: 5 VOTES  
**

“NO!!!!” Louise shouted as she fell to the floor.  
  
“I’m s-sorry Louise!” Charlie replied.  
  
“Damn it Charlie!” Alice yelled “Who did you vote for?!”  
  
“I-I voted for Henry!” he replied “My vote wouldn’t have mattered!”  
  
“Well who voted for who then?!” Alice replied.  
  
“It’s more like three to four…” Henry spoke “As neither I nor Louise would vote for ourselves.”  
  
“Well who voted for who then?!” Sam demanded.  
  
The captain shook his head “I won’t tell, it’s not right to blame the others for their suspicions.”  
  
“I want a revote!” Alice shouted.

“You’re not captain” Gary replied as he put the tablet away. “Tommy? Eleanor? Restrain Louise.”  
  
“ _NO!!!_ ” Louise shouted as she tried to flee the cafeteria, but Rachel jumped on to her and brought her to the ground.  
  
“ _PLEASE!”_ she teared _“WHO KILLED MAX?! I COULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT!”  
  
_ “But then who killed Sal and Scottie?!” Gary asked.  
  
As she tried to squirm away, Henry pulled out a syringe and stuck it into Louise’s shoulder. Her struggling slowed as the pink uniformed crew-mate fell unconscious.  
  
Rachel sighed as she got off the nurse and watched her get picked up by Eleanor.  
  
“Did that kill her?” Charlie asked.  
  
Dr. Rodman shook his head “No, but it was a very intense sedative.”  
  
“So… she should die before she wakes up…” Rachel said as she tugged at her collar.  
  
As everyone caught their breaths, Henry took out an empty syringe and drew some blood out of her artery.  
  
“Well now that she’s out cold,” Alice began “ _how_ are we getting her off the ship?”

“The garbage airlock in Storage.” The captain replied “It’s similar to how space funerals are done if a fallen crew-member requests it.”  
  
With a sigh, Tommy picked up Louise’s body and slumped her over his shoulder as the remaining crew members made their way to Storage.  
  
The garbage airlock was by the starboard wall of the Skeld. It was a little bit bigger than a clothes dryer. Tommy clumsily put Louise’s limp body into the chamber.

“I still think we should vote off Henry…” Sam spoke as the door was closed.  
  
“Me too…” Charlie added “And Henry is quite strong and controls the sedatives. How are we gonna bring him here if he does get voted out?”  
  
“Mark my words you two…” Henry coldly began “If someone else dies and I do happen to be voted off…I assure you that I will face my doom with dignity.”  
  
Charlie and Sam looked in different directions as the door was locked.  
  
“How long can a body in an IA suit survive in space?” Eleanor asked.  
  
Henry scratched his chin “Well there are those who have been in accidents and then recovered that have lasted twelve hours, and those who have found to have died within three hours of disconnection due to their panicked states.”  
  
“What’s the average?” Rachel wondered.  
  
“If I had to guess… six hours.” Henry answered.  
  
Rachel then pulled out her tablet and started a timer for six hours.  
  
“Does anyone have anything to say before we send Louise into space?” The captain asked.  
  
“I do” Rachel spoke as she walked up to the disposal. She closed her eyes and laced her fingers as if she was about to pray.  
  
“Through the great goodness of whatever powers there be that control the universe, may they pardon Louise for whatever sins have been committed by her. And if we are wrong about our decision, may those powers pardon us for our mis-judgement.”  
  
Rachel unlaced her hands as she stepped away from the airlock. Gary then sighed and lifted up the cover that would activate the airlock. Closing his eyes, he slammed on the button and the doors space-side flew open and sent Louise’s body out into the vacuum of space to meet her uncertain fate.  
  
Henry watched his nurse vanish into the blackness while Charlie tried not to cry. Sam and Alice turned their backs to the window. Eleanor simply sighed.  
  
“Alright everyone,” the captain spoke “Back to your duties.”  
  
Everyone slowly walked away in different directions. Rachel walked with Tommy to the engines.Charlie, Sam and Alice made their way to the cafeteria. Eleanor, Gary and Henry made their way to Navigation where the Helm was.  
  
“Do you really mean that you’d go quietly if we voted you off?” Eleanor asked.  
  
Henry nodded “I mean it. What would be the point of struggling as I’d be outnumbered.”  
  
“Well it’s very honorable of you to do so if you were voted off.”  
  
While Eleanor and Gary entered Navigation, Henry made his way to where Dr. Max died.  
  
“What are you doing Henry?” Gary asked.  
  
“I’m going to finish what Max started. We’ve got a new dead body on this ship and I want to find out if there is going to be any more of them.”  
  
Gary sighed and let Henry leave. The doctor passed through weapons and then entered the Cafeteria where Sam, Charlie and Alice all glared at him. No one said a word as he walked through, and the trio continued their conversation once the doctor left.  
  
“I don’t trust him…” Sam spoke “It’s like when I was at bootcamp. The lonely ones were often working on something nasty to hurt their fellow soldiers.”  
  
“But if we antagonize him, it would make him more likely to attack us, right?” Charlie wondered.  
  
“That may be true” Alice began “but maybe if we goad him into biting it’d be easier for us to convince the rest to boot him off the ship.”  
  
Sam scratched her head as Charlie fiddled his fingers.  
  
“I got it” Charlie spoke “We frame him.”  
  
“Frame him?” Sam asked.  
  
“Yep. We pin an act of sabotage on him and then turn everyone else against him.”  
  
“But what about the captain?” Alice asked “Tommy, Rachel, or Eleanor? What if they don’t trust our story?”  
  
“That’s right!” Sam spoke “I voted for Henry when we first voted.”  
  
“Same here” Alice added. “If the vote was four to five with Louise not voting for herself, that means that everyone else voted for Louise. We were out numbered.”  
  
“And it’s even numbered…” Charlie spoke “What would a tie do?”  
  
“Probably no one getting voted off…” Alice spoke “If we wanted to have bargaining power…someone else would have to die.”  
  
The three sighed as their plans bounced around their heads as Eleanor and Gary sat in Navigation.  
  
“Maybe I was wrong with voting off Louise…” Gary spoke as he sipped some Don Dew.

“Why do you say that? I voted her off too because I didn’t trust her…”  
  
“Because Louise being responsible for all three deaths doesn’t make sense and something tells me that Louise would have _never_ killed Max. And the logistics of her killing him doesn’t make sense.”  
  
“Captain,” Eleanor spoke “You and I were the only ones who saw Max before he was murdered in that gruesome way. The other two deaths were simple murders and this third death was incongruous with the first two.”  
  
“Maybe…just maybe…there’s some sort of beast on this ship that we don’t know about.”  
  
“A monster?” Eleanor asked.  
  
The captain nodded “Something that could cleave a person in half and eat them without a stain of evidence on their body.”  
  
Eleanor sighed as she leaned back in her chair “That may be the case…but we won’t be sure if we did the right thing until we get to Polus.”  
  
The captain nodded and the two just watched the stars pass by as The Skeld flew through space.  
  
Everyone that was left was on edge. Did they eliminate the imposter on the ship or did they eject an innocent crewmate that had been caught up in the emotional stress?  
  
The truth of the matter would turn out to be much _much_ worse.


	5. Chapter 5

“Five…four…three…two…one…zero.”  
  
Rachel solemnly watched the timer on her tablet count down to zero as she sat in a chair in the Medbay. Dr. Rodman hung his head as he checked the Intergalactic Date and began to dictate a death report.  
  
“This Dr. Henry Rodman speaking. At approximately Intergalactic Date 71920.8, Nurse of the IA Ship The Skeld has died due to exposure in space. Due to to safety and security concerns among the crew after the deaths of Salieri Roux, Scottie Crawthon and Dr. Maxwell Earl Meyerson; we voted to eject her off the ship. We do not know if she truly was responsible for any or all of the deaths and despite the minority of the crew desiring to vote me off the ship, we all begrudgingly dumped her out of The Skeld.”  
  
Henry pressed stop on the recording device and filed the document with the rest of the ship’s files.  
  
“It’s a shame about Louise” Rachel spoke.  
  
Henry sighed as he looked over the analyzer, it was at 98%.  
  
“It is, no matter what the truth is.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“It’s a shame if she was innocent as have doomed her to die for being sus.” Henry said with a sigh “It’s a shame if she was guilty because we don’t know why she would do such a thing.”  
  
Louise nodded and looked over at the body bag that contained Max’s legs. With a fresh needle in hand, Henry carefully unzipped the body bag and began to draw blood out of the remains.  
  
“What are you doing?”  
  
“I’m going to do what Max did and compare his pre-mortem blood to this blood.”  
  
The vial quickly filled with darkening blood and was then was drawn on with a permanent marker. With the press of a few buttons, he not only grabbed a sample of Max’s spare blood but also that of Louise’s. On the vial stand were the 2 different types of blood for the now absent crewmates. Half of them contained blood taken before they took off, the other half taken sometime after the death of Sal.  
  
Suddenly, the Analyzer slowed down and began to beep. The lid popped open and a red light on the side of the device began to blink.  
  
Cautiously, the two approached the device and began to read the screen attached to it.

**NEW LIFE FORM(S) FOUND** **  
THOROUGH SEARCHING THROUGH THE IA COMPENDIUM HAS DETERMINED THAT THE PRESENCE OF [TWO] PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN BEINGS HAS BEEN DISCOVERED. PLEASE GIVE NAME(S) TO THE NEW FORM(S).  
**

“New life forms?” Rachel said with a gulp.  
  
Henry calmly clicked a few buttons and got a closer look at the details of the life forms. They were microscopic, similar to germs and had vastly different appearances. According to the analyzer, intact individual members of the cellular components were few and far between but what was more common were entwined versions of the dead biological matter as if they were fighting for dominance.  
  
“What are you going to call these creatures?” Rachel asked.  
  
The doctor scratched his chin a bit before typing out names. He named them both after the planet they originated from. The name Omega was given to the larger of the two life forms while Psi was given to the smaller.  
  
“Now that they have a name,” Henry began as he removed the analyzed vials “We can have a better understanding of what they are.  
  
The doctor then began putting the vials of the absent crewmates inside the analyzer and closed the lid.  
  
“What are you checking for?”  
  
“I want to see which of these creatures have infected the crew, if at all.”  
  
“So…if they had been infected, they were guilty of the murders?”  
  
Henry shook his head “No…how could SAL be guilty of killing anyone if he was the first to die?”  
  
“Well he could have planted the bomb that killed Scottie…”  
  
Henry nodded in understanding “That may be so… It’s gonna take a bit to check the blood, but too long.”  
  
Rachel nodded in understanding before making her way to the door.

  
“Where are you going?”  
  
“…to the Cafeteria?”  
  
Henry stood, his fists tightening as he approached.  
  
“I don’t think you should go…”  
  
The cadet gulped a bit as the doctor stepped forward.  
  
“At least, not alone.” Henry smiled as he opened the door for both of them.  
  
Relieved, Rachel and Henry made their way to the cafeteria to check on the rest of the crew.  
  
Gary and Alice were sitting at other ends of the room and naturally refused to talk to each other, Charlie and Sam were playing a game of cards and Tommy and Eleanor were missing. Resting on one of the tables were the miniPavlovas, still untouched after several hours.  
  
“Captain?” Henry asked as he approached “Where are Tommy and Eleanor?”  
  
“They’re at the escape pods, checking on the emergency hailing frequencies.”  
  
“Why are they doing that?” Rachel asked.  
  
“It’s scheduled maintenance.” Alice spoke “There’s no need to worry about abandoning ship…unless Gary here thinks it’s necessary.”  
  
“It isn’t necessary at _this_ particular moment” Gary retorted “We’re still alive, The Skeld isn’t about to explode, we’re fine.”  
  
Alice rolled her eyes and walked over to sit with Charlie and Sam.  
  
“Captain,” Henry began “The analyzer has finished it’s scrutinization of the IA Compendium.”  
  
“And if I had to guess, it found a new organism? Something that matches what Max described?”  
  
“Not exactly….”

“Not exactly?”

“Yes. The analyzer determined that there are _two_ new organisms that have been discovered.”   
  
“I see…how do they react with each other?”  
  
“I don’t know, all evidence seems to say that these new organisms were completely deceased.”  
  
“So there is no way we could have gotten them from the dead body we found.”  
  
“Most likely not.”  
  
Rachel remained quiet, thinking continually about the photos she and Tommy found on the SD card they had acquired.  
  
“Captain? Doctor Rodman?”  
  
“Yes?” Gary asked.  
  
“What if Sal and Scottie…weren’t who they appeared to be?”  
  
The two stared at the cadet in surprise.  
  
“What do you mean Rachel?” Henry asked.  
  
“I mean… what if they were infected by something… that changed them so much that they could shift into a monster…without us knowing it.”  
  
“What?!” Gary bluntly asked “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!”  
  
Henry glared at Gary before turning back to Rachel “I don’t think it’s stupid… go on.”  
  
“Well… Max died in a different way from Sal and Scottie, as if a monster was on the ship. What if those who killed them knew that they were monsters and wanted to protect the rest of the crew?”  
  
“That doesn’t make sense” Gary interjected “If I was a monster, a perfect monster under this skin, how would you know if I was one?”  
  
Henry and Rachel looked the captain over, seeming as normal as he ever was, save for a ketchup stain or two that could never get washed out.

  
“I’m sorry,” Rachel began “I’m just…on edge.”  
  
“I understand” Gary began, “we are all nervous after we ejected Louise.”  
  
From the other end of the Cafeteria, Tommy and Eleanor strolled their way in.  
  
“Hey everyone, why are we all gathering here?” Tommy asked “Is there a pow-wow we’re missing out on?”  
  
“We all want to be in each other’s sight…” Alice remarked.  
  
“Oh don’t get your panties in a bunch!” Eleanor spoke as she grabbed a glass of Don Dew.  
  
“How are the radios?” Gary asked.  
  
“One of them is fine but I want to bring Rachel over to teach her a bit more. Is that ok?”  
  
Rachel looked Tommy over. He was still wearing that casual grin and his hair long and unkempt, like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo without the stoner mentality nor the godlike power.  
  
“Captain?” Rachel asked.  
  
Gary nodded, and the two mechanics made their way to the upper engine and it’s escape pod.  
  
“I’m going back to Medbay” Dr. Henry announced.  
  
“As always…” Sam quipped with a sour tone as he continued down the hall with Rachel to the Upper Engine.  
  
The engines were both rust colored and powered by Stercusium fuel rods, an element created from exposing natural waste to radioactive energy. Thankfully, if exposed to humans, the radiation would be no worse than sitting in a swimming pool of bananas. The fuel used to stink as a form of energy but it has been refined extensively to be as efficient as possible. There were all sorts of meters to check, but it was a rather user friendly interface.  
  
As the two mechanics were testing the engine: Alice, Sam and Charlie were playing a game of Five Card Draw. Sam had folded while Charlie and Alice were facing each other.  
  
“So Charlie, what do you got?” Sam asked.  
  
“I got a two pair…” Charlie groaned as he showed black aces and black eights with the ten of spades.  
  
“That’s funny… I got two pair as well!” Alice said with a smirk as she showed a pair of red fours…with a pair of black fours and the three of clubs.  
  
Charlie frowned as Alice took the pot with a big smile on her face.  
  
“Say Alice,” Sam began, speaking as quietly as possible. “I have an idea for how we can get rid of Dr. Rodman.”  
  
Alice cocked an eyebrow “What’s the plan?”  
  
“Let’s all go to electrical and I’ll explain…” Sam began.  
  
The three made their way past Admin and the Kitchen towards storage, leaving Gary and Eleanor alone. The three glanced around worriedly as if the monster that killed Dr. Max was in the halls.  
  
They arrived at electrical and Sam opened up the main surge protection panel where four wires were visible. She then took out her knife and handed it to Alice while she explained her plan.  
  
“Charlie, you go to the Reactor. There’s a vent that leads into the Upper Engine. Crawl into it and overload the upper engine.”  
  
“Overload it?! But won’t that destroy one of the escape pods?”  
  
“The escape pods hold six people. If we lose one and vote Henry off, it’ll be a cramped fit for seven people but it will work.”  
  
“But what if Rachel or Tommy die in the explosion?” Alice asked.  
  
“Then there’ll be more evidence to pin the crime on Henry. Now go Charlie!”  
  
Charlie nodded and made his way to the reactor.  
  
“And what about me?” Alice asked.  
  
“You’ll cut the wires to shut off the main lights once the Upper Reactor explodes. I’ll be here to restore the wires after you flee, alright?”  
  
Alice nodded as they patiently waited.  
  
Charlie grumbled to himself as he took out his IA Multitool to undo the panel for the vent that led to the Upper Engine.  
  
“I’m not gonna fit in this… these vents are too small for a human!” Charlie complained as he lifted the vent panel up and placed it aside. Ever so carefully, he stuck his head into the vent. To his shock, his body seemed a lot thinner and flexible than he thought and he was able to quietly crawl into the vent with little issue.  
  
Slowly but surely, Charlie shimmied through the vents and eventually arrived at the Upper Reactor. The screws for the vent panel were sticking into the ventilation shaft so all Charlie had to do was unscrew them from the inside of the vent.  
  
He then heard a clang and Rachel shout in pain.  
  
“SHIT! Shit shit shit shit shit!” She shouted.  
  
Tommy groaned as he picked up the tool she dropped.  
  
“If I’ve told the IA once I’ve told them a thousand times… the mechanics need steel toed space boots!”  
  
The mechanic walked over to console the cadet while Charlie quickly unscrewed the panel off and quietly entered the Upper Engine room. Right by the vent was a lever that read “STERCUSIM POWER LIMITER”. At the fulcrum there was a large metal rod with a zip tie on it that prevented the rod from being removed by accident. On the zip tie was a tag that read “WARNING, REMOVING THIS ROD WILL DESTROY THE ENGINE IN 60 SECONDS. ONLY REMOVE JUST BEFORE EVACUATION IF NECESSARY.”  
  
With a worried gulp, Charlie took out his IA Multi tool and folded the knife out. With a quick slash, he broke the zip tie and quickly removed the rod before crawling back into the vent.  
  
Suddenly, the Upper Reactor began to hum loudly.  
  
“Huh?!” Tommy wondered as he ran to check the meters. They were all swinging into the red zones, indicating the dangerous levels of pressure and energy.  
  
“Tommy?! What is it?!” Rachel shouted as she ran to see what the matter was.  
  
“NO!” Tommy exclaimed as he pushed her away from the engine and onto the floor “RUN YOU FOOL!” he spoke, his voice turning into a guttural growl.  
  
“But Tommy!” She pleaded as she tried to stand.  
  
“GET OUT! LOCK THE DOORS AND FIND GARY AND ELEANOR!”  
  
Rachel nodded and dashed out of the room. Outside of the doors of each engine were a number of switches. One of them activated the fire doors, which made the rooms airtight just in case the explosion would cause an oxygen leak, the second was the switch that injected a flame retardant into the room.  
  
She lifted the safety panel off the fire door switch and pulled it, causing all the doors for the Upper Engine to slam shut.  
  
As soon as the seal was completed, the pressure of the engine’s explosion pushed Rachel onto the floor. She struggled to stand and then lifted the safety panel again and turned on the switch for the flame retardant. While the emergency klaxon began blared, and the foam poured into the Upper Reactor, the lights suddenly turned off.  
  
“Perfect…” Rachel said with a sigh as she began to stumble her way to the Cafeteria.  
  
As the room came into view, she suddenly felt a hand grab her shoulder.  
  
“AHH!” She shouted, seeing the red glove touch her.  
  
“Easy! Rachel!” Henry spoke.  
  
Rachel stepped back “Don’t touch me, alright!”  
  
Henry frowned “Sorry… are you ok?”  
  
The cadet brushed off her suit “I’m ok…Tommy is dead.”  
  
“Shit… that means mechanic duties are on you.”  
  
“Thank you Dr. Obvious….”  
  
Henry smirked a bit “C’mon. Let’s go to the cafeteria.”  
  
The doctor and the cadet walked to the cafeteria as Charlie continued crawling back to the reactor. Not only were there fire doors on the ship’s deck but also in the vents too. The pressure of the explosion shook Charlie up, but he was able to shimmy his way back.  
  
But as he shimmied, he noticed that the vent was more difficult to crawl through and that he heard the creaking of metal. Initially he thought it was the aftershock of the explosion but it kept bending and creaking extensively.  
  
He finally got to the other end of the vent into the Reactor and began sticking his head and arms out of the vent.  
  
“GAH!”  
  
Suddenly, he felt metal crush against his legs as if the vent was trying to eat him.  
  
“ALICE! SAM! HELP!” Charlie shouted but the door for the reactor was shut and all the rooms were sound proofed.  
  
The metal kept crushing around his legs and the metal began to cut his suit and boots.  
  
He tried reaching for the reactor so he could try to pull himself out, but anything he could grab was too far for him to hold.  
  
The creaking increased, the cutting increased, and the crushing of the vent started to crawl up Charlie’s legs.  
  
 ** _*SNAP!*_  
  
** The pressure on Charlie’s legs was so much that it began breaking his bones. Blood began seeping into his boots as his lower legs crumbled like rotting wood. The pressure then began going for his upper legs, paralyzing him.  
  
Charlie began to cry as the pressure went to his most sensitive areas and began breaking his pelvis.  
  
“S-SOMEONE! HELP ME!” He began to cry as the crushing began to affect his stomach, the hot acids pouring into the vent.  
  
With a yelp and a cough, blood spurted out of his mouth as his ribs were snapped and his lungs were punctured. His heart then swiftly stopped by the stabbing of a stainless steel vent.  
  
His vision faded, his limbs went limp, and his gasps for air ceased.  
  
But the crushing did not stop.  
  
It kept going until the entire vent wrapped around the lower legs of Charlie, bifurcating him and causing his upper body to splash into a pool of his own blood.  
  
Unaware of Charlie’s demise, Alice met Rachel and Henry in the Cafeteria. The former was wiping away some tears while Henry paced around.  
  
“What’s going on?! What happened?!” Alice asked.  
  
With a glare, Henry turned to Alice “The power is out, we’ve lost one of the engines, and _Tommy is dead!”  
  
_ With a frown, Alice sighed and sat at a table.  
  
“Where were you anyway!?” Henry demanded.  
  
“I was in Storage,” Alice replied “Where were you?!”  
  
“Where I always am. The Medbay!”  
  
“And you Rachel?” Alice asked.  
  
“Oh leave her alone! She was with Tommy in the Upper Reactor. He saved her while trying to stop the damn thing from exploding.”  
  
“Fine…where’s Charlie? Gary? Eleanor? Sam?”  
  
“I’m right here!” Sam spoke as she entered from the hallway that led to Storage “I was looking for Eleanor in communication, I didn’t find her.”  
  
“That’s because I was at the Lower Engine.” Eleanor answered as she arrived from the same hall “Because if one engine went haywire I want to make sure that the other is ok.”  
  
“How is the Lower Engine?” Gary asked as he made his way from the hall that lead to Weapons.  
  
“It’s fine and in working order.” Eleanor said with a smile.  
  
“What about the Escape Pod?” Henry asked, his fists tensing.  
  
“It’s fine too…nothing there.”  
  
“Alright then,” Gary said with a smile before glancing around “Now where’s Tommy and Charlie?”  
  
“Tommy is dead” Rachel explained with a heavy sigh “He sacrificed himself to try to keep it intact.”  
  
“He will be honored for his valiant effort” Gary spoke.  
  
“A fat lot of good to give Tommy an honor after _he’s dead_.”  
  
“Oh give us a break Alice…” Henry complained.  
  
“Right then,” spoke Gary “where’s Charlie?”  
  
The crew looked around and despite the dimness of the emergency lights marring everyone’s view, Charlie and his blue IA suit were nowhere to be found.  
  
“Does anyone know where Charlie was?” Henry asked.  
  
Alice darted his eyes around nervously before Sam stepped forward.  
  
“I believe he went to check on the reactor as the Upper Engine began to go on the fritz.”  
  
Gary took a deep breath and began leading the other five crew members to the reactor, walking through storage and passing electrical.  
  
“Who’s gonna fix the electricity once we find Charlie?” Alice asked.  
  
“I’ll do it,” Rachel perked up “I’m the head mechanic now.”  
  
“Bitch please,” Sam began “I’ll be responsible for the electricity.”  
  
“How come?!”  
  
“Because most accidental deaths on IA ships happen in the electrical room and you’re still a cadet” Alice explained.  
  
Rachel pouted as they walked past the lower engine and to the reactor. The door quietly opened, and everyone collectively held their breaths as Charlie’s fate was revealed to the rest of the crew.  
  
“…No!” Alice shouted “NononononoNO!!!!”  
  
Gary just hung his head while Sam frowned as Henry began walking to the deceased top half and pulled out a syringe to draw some blood.  
  
“What’s the point of taking his blood NOW?!”Alice shouted.  
  
Henry said nothing as he exited the reactor and began to make his way to the Upper Engine.  
  
“HENRY! AS FIRST MATE I DEMAND AN ANSWER.”  
  
“And as the captain,” Gary began “I feel like he should do what he’s doing.”  
  
The fire doors were still active, so Henry had to push the activation switch back up to unlock the door. The doors still wouldn’t open so Henry took out his IA multitool to pry the doors open with the knife.  
  
The Upper Engine room looked like a shaving cream factory had exploded. The reactor was completely destroyed and the escape pod’s windshield had shattered, rendering it useless.  
  
Henry sloshed through the flame retardant and began digging through the mess.  
  
“What the hell are you doing?!” Sam asked.  
  
“I’m looking for Tommy…or at least _part_ of him.”  
  
With a sigh, Rachel started sorting through the foam and the two were eventually joined by the rest of the crew.  
  
“Ejecting a crewmate and swimming in white goo are two things I never imagine would happen on the same day” Eleanor remarked.  
  
“Well I had to slog through mud during the battle of…”  
  
“Can you not talk about your military career?!” Gary pleaded.  
  
Sam just rolled her eyes as the searching continued.  
  
Eleanor eventually found the rod that was meant to keep the power limiter in check, bent into a pretzel because of the explosion.  
  
Soon afterwards, Rachel saw a part of the foam that was redder than the rest. She reached in and pulled out an arm that was clothed into a black sleeve and bleeding from where it disconnected from the torso.  
  
However, the arm’s hand looked different than usual.  
  
The fingers of the glove were torn from the inside and the nails had grown in length and became black and sharp.  
  
Sam herself found one of Tommy’s legs, and the boot had broken due to the foot enlarging and the toenails curling.  
  
“W-what happened to Tommy?” Rachel asked.  
  
“I don’t know” Henry spoke as he began to draw blood from the arm Rachel found “But I do know that whatever has been killing the crew… is still among us.”


	6. Chapter 6

Henry had gone off to the Medbay to put the mutilated and mutated arm of Tommy into the analyzer and fill out twomore death reports. Eleanor and Gary were cleaning up the mess of foam in the Upper Engine while Sam, Alice and Rachel cleaned up the vent where Charlie was sliced in half.  
  
“Urgh…” Alice said with a groan “Charlie let out a lot of blood.”  
  
“You get used to it” Sam said “I saw pints of blood spilled on battlefields often.”  
  
Rachel glared at Sam “If you start saying _anything_ about your military career…”  
  
“Oh calm down Rachel, I’m not gonna say anything about it.”  
  
Rachel sighed in relief, but Alice groaned as she scrubbed the bloodstains away.  
  
“Alice, what’s wrong?”  
  
The first mate tossed her sponge against the ground.  
  
“Why the hell hasn’t anyone turned the lights back on yet!?”  
  
The emergency lights were still on and made visibility on The Skeld a pain to deal with. All the electrical devices were working but the main lighting circuit still needed to be restored.  
  
“Gary wants us to clean up the dead bodies so that the stench and rotting of the bodies and blood doesn’t ruin the rest of the trip,” Sam explained “Which is pointless in my opinion considering that _half_ of the crew is gone.”  
  
Alice and Rachel nodded in agreement.  
  
“I’ll go take care of the electricity once we’re done with this” Rachel offered.  
  
Sam shook her head “No Rachel, you stay with Alice. I’ll take care of it.”  
  
“Please…” Rachel spoke “I’m the head mechanic now that Tommy is dead. I’ll take care of it.”  
  
“Being the head mechanic now makes you more valuable towards the stability of this ship than ever before. I’ll do it.”  
  
“How about you both go?” Alice suggested“That way you have more eyes to spot for anything suspicious.”  
  
The two girls nodded and made their way to the Upper Engine to find Eleanor power washing foam away with Gary sweeping up rubble.  
  
“Hey Eleanor?” Sam began.  
  
“Hmm?” Eleanor spoke as he turned off her power washer.  
  
“Rachel and I are going to Electrical to turn the lights back on, is that ok?”  
  
Eleanor turned to Gary, who nodded in approval.  
  
Sam and Rachel both smiled as they exited the remains of the Upper Engine to make their way to Electrical.  
  
“Hey Gary?” Eleanor asked.  
  
“Yes Eleanor?”  
  
“Maybe we should check on Henry, see if he has found anything out about what happened to Tommy.”  
  
The two nodded in agreement and began to walk to the Medbay while Sam and Rachel passed by the Reactor and the Lower Engine and to arrive at Electrical. The door opened to reveal walls of circuit breakers and wires of various gauges strewn across the floor. A wall of panels blocked part of the view of the back wall.  
  
“Please tell me the light breakers are _on_ that wall…”  
  
Rachel sighed as she shook her head. Sam groaned as the two entered the room to look for the lighting panel. It was right against the back wall and was in the darkest part of the eerily quiet room. The panel had been smashed open and was hanging on by only one of it’s hinges. Caring little about fixing the door, Sam tore it off and let it clang on the ground.  
  
Instead of a wire having been overloaded, the wires had been slashed and were sparking loudly.  
  
“You turn off the lighting breaker while I get some wire….” Rachel spoke.  
  
Sam nodded and turned the switch off next to the panel and the sparking swiftly stopped. Then with an almost destructive glee she started yanking out the cut wires out of the connections.  
  
Next to a vent on the floor laid a metal tool box that Rachel brought over to begin reconnecting the wires.  
  
As Rachel took out a wire, neither of them were paying attention to what could have been behind them. Could have been the unknown monster that killed Sam? The murderer of Sal? The saboteur of Scottie?  
  
Rachel felt a chill in the air and stopped connecting the second wire. “Sam? Can you hold these for me?”  
  
Sam nodded as Rachel pressed her back against the panel of circuit breakers that blocked the view of the door. She took out her IA Multi tool and unfolded out the knife. Her breathing increased rapidly, fearing the monster or traitorous crewmate that could have been stalking her.  
  
“GYAHH!”   
  
With a shout, she jumped out from behind the wall of panels, ready to take on who or what was going to attack her.  
  
But there was nothing but the hum of electrical lights and the dimness of the dark.  
  
Rachel let out a sigh as she folded her knife back in.  
  
“Sorry Sam!” She spoke as she began to resume fixing the wires “I guess I let my imagination get the best of m…”  
  
Rachel dropped her IA Multi tool on the ground with a loud thud as she saw Sam.  
  
A barbed and scarlet colored tentacle like tongue was wrapped around Sam’s neck, grasping tightly. The body of the soldier twitched and shook ever so subtly as she was choked and lifted into the air.  
  
From her chest, the tongue had pierced through her suit from the back and making blood quietly drip onto the floor. The tip or the tongue was still wiggling around, the remaining consciousness of Sam had her eyes follow the tip as it shoved into her mouth before stabbing her through the back of her skull, eliminating the remaining life from her body.  
  
The frightened Cadet slowly looked up at the ceiling and saw the contorted body of a crew member hanging from the pipes of the ceiling. The color was hard to determine in the dimness of the emergency lighting and the face of the beast was hidden behind the pipes.  
  
Rachel swiftly hid back behind the wall of electrical panels and gulped. Should she engage on the beast? Should she run? Who should she go to?! Who was left on the The Skeld?

  
“…ALICE!!!!!” Rachel shouted as she ran out of the Electrical room and to the Reactor.  
  
Alice, who had just finished the final touches on her cleaning job jumped in surprise as she heard Rachel’s scream.  
  
“Rachel?” The first mate asked as she sticked her head out of the doorway for the Reactor, her eyes widening as she saw her frightened crewmate.  
  
“ALICE!” She shouted “Something is in Electrical! It got Sam!”  
  
“SAM?!” She replied as she got out her Hand Phaser and ran towards Electrical with Rachel.  
  
She opened up the door and aimed into electrical. “Where is this thing?”  
  
“B-Behind the wall…where the electrical panel is…”  
  
Alice sighed, well aware that her actions resulted in Sam’s death as she quietly entered the room.   
  
The hum of the ship and the slight sparking of wires were the only noises that could be heard as the first mate shimmied against the wall to prepare to confront the attacker.  
  
“GAHHH!” Alice shouted as she jumped out and fired at what ever possible being was there.  
  
But there was nothing, only Sam’s mutilated body lying quietly on the floor and a loose vent panel that had been moved from it’s position.  
  
Alice put her phaser away with a groan “Rachel…fix the wiring.”  
  
Rachel nodded and swiftly repaired the wiring and the lights all swiftly turned back on. The two crew mates squinted as the lights turned back on and their attention turned to Sam’s body.  
  
“Rachel Juno;” Alice began as she reached for her phaser “Give it to me straight.”  
  
Rachel backed up against the wall, fumbling for her own weapon.  
  
“Did _you_ do this?” The first mate asked as charged her weapon up.  
  
“No! I didn’t!”  
  
“Who are you really?” Alice demanded “What’s your IA-NRS?”  
  
“I’m Rachel! Cadet and Assistant Mechanic! RM EN TN DO is my code!”  
  
“Do you really know that by heart?” Alice asked “Or did you have to look it up before you took over Rachel and killed Sam?!”  
  
“I didn’t kill Sam! I haven’t killed anyone!”  
  
“Well maybe you’re just saying anything to stop me from killing you…like a rat in a corner.”  
  
Alice’s tone changed to something that Rachel never heard before. It was faint but distinct.  
  
“ANSWER ME!” Alice screamed as she placed the phaser barrel against Alice’s head.  
  
“Enough Alice.” Said a voice from behind the two. It was Eleanor, pointing her own Phaser at the first mate. Standing next to her was Gary with his own weapon.  
  
“Kill Rachel and we’ll eliminate you Alice” Gary spoke.  
  
“And besides…” Eleanor began “Her white uniform is spotless. She doesn’t have any red on her.”  
  
Alice’s eyes widened “Red…stains…Where’s Henry?!”  
  
The crew members wildly looked at each other and quickly noticed the absence of their doctor.  
  
“HENRY!” Alice shouted as the four began to run to the Medbay. The doors were closed so the two flanked the sides of the entrance with Eleanor and Gary on one side and Rachel and Alice on the other.  
  
“Everyone have their phasers ready?” Gary asked.  
  
The other three crew mates nodded.  
  
“Alright…once I open the door, we fire.” Gary spoke “One…two…three!”  
  
The doors swished open and Henry, unaware that he was being aimed at, turned to see what was coming from the door.  
  
“Hey there what’s go-AHH!”  
  
Henry jumped as the four crew mates fired, all exhibiting horrid aim as the doctor hid behind one of the beds. The shots hit the Medbay scanner as well as several shelves of medical supplies on the back wall.  
  
Eventually, the charges on the phasers ran out an the firing stopped and gave Henry the opportunity to stick his hands out from his cover.  
  
“Guys?” Henry asked, rattled at the experience “Why are you firing at me?!”  
  
“Oh don’t play dumb Henry!” Alice shouted “You killed Sam!”  
  
Henry peeked out from his hiding spot “Sam’s dead?! How?!”  
  
“Why should we tell you?” Gary spoke “You killed her!”  
  
“That’s a load of crap!” Henry yelled as he got up from behind the bed “I’ve been here the whole time, as I’ve always been! You were with me! So was Eleanor! You both wanted to check up on my investigation!”  
  
“That’s a lie Henry!” Eleanor retorted. “Gary and I went to look for you but you weren’t here!”  
  
“Exactly!” Gary added “We opened the doors and you were gone!”  
  
“Gary! Eleanor!” Henry pleaded “You were with me! You were watching me go over the analyzer and examine Charlie’s and Tommy’s blood.”  
  
“Oh quit your falsities!” Alice spoke “Just fess up and we’ll make it easy for you! You’ve killed everyone on this ship.”  
  
“You were able to sterilize the weapon after killing Sal!” Gary spoke.  
  
“You stole a phaser and overloaded it in the Security room to cover your tracks!” Eleanor added.  
  
“You killed Max so you can delay the truth from getting out about what’s been going on!” Alice continued.  
  
“You voted Louise off to throw everyone off the scent!” Gary spoke.  
  
“You were probably working with Charlie to sabotage the ship and then killed him so he wouldn’t squeal!” Alice yelled.  
  
“And now you finally killed Sam and lying about me and Gary being with you!” stated Eleanor.  
  
“PLEASE!” Henry yelled “It wasn’t me! How could have I gotten to electrical anyway?! I would have had to enter through the same doors that Sam and Rachel did!”  
  
Alice pointed to the vent in the corner of the Medbay. The panel was missing.  
  
“Through the vent?!” Henry shouted “I can’t fit through there! It’s too cramped!”  
  
“Well Charlie was easily able to crawl through!” Eleanor replied.  
  
“B-but I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me! Why do you hate me?! I’m not a bad guy! I’m not useless! I’m a doctor! I-I was taught to heal not harm!”  
  
The doctor’s voice wavered and his body shook. Rachel put her weapon away and approached Henry to rub his shoulder before sighing.  
  
“…We should vote whether or not we should eject him.”  
  
“Are you kidding?!” Alice spoke “He’s obviously guilty!”  
  
“Rachel’s right” Eleanor spoke as she prepared her tablet for voting “We voted Louise off…so its only fair that we should vote to see if we should get Henry off.”  
  
“But who else could it be?” Rachel wondered.  
  
“ _Gary._ ” Henry coldly spoke, causing everyone to turn to the doctor “I swear that Eleanor and Gary were with me…I had my eyes on Eleanor the whole time as I worked… but Gary could have slipped away…”  
  
Eleanor sighed as she made the final arrangements on her tablet.  
  
“Alright. You press your color first then you will see Red and Orange. Touch the color of the person you want to vote off. We go chromatically.”  
  
Gary took the tablet and glared at Henry as he made his vote. Alice did the same as she cast hers. Dr. Rodman quietly voted for his then Eleanor voted followed by Rachel. After the last vote was cast, everyone looked at the results.

  
**VOTE TO ELIMINATE  
CAPTAIN GARY WILLIAM: TWO VOTES  
CHIEF PHYSICIAN HENRY McKIDD RODMAN: THREE VOTES**

Henry sighed and hung his head.  
  
“Fuck.” He then gathered himself and stood rigidly “Captain, may I have a few final requests?”  
  
“That depends on what they are…” Gary spoke.  
  
“Are you kidding?!” Alice shouted “We voted him off, lets get rid of him!”  
  
“Who’s captain again?” Eleanor said teasingly.  
  
Alice groaned as she turned to Henry.  
  
“I want to get a blood sample from Sam’s body… and a sample from everyone that’s left. I then want to grab a few things from my quarters before I am ejected off the Skeld. Is that too much to ask before I face my uncertain fate?”  
  
Eleanor and Gary looked at each other before turning back to Henry.  
  
“Sure. But we’re all gonna be watching you. We’ll all keep you in our sights as we let you have your last requests.”  
  
“That’s fair, as was the voting process…”  
  
The four took out their phasers and aimed at Henry as he prepared to take out some syringes.  
  
With phasers at his back, Henry walked to Electrical and got on his knees to draw blood from Sam’s mangled body and then gently closed her eyes with his fingers. He then wrote Sam’s name on the vial before turning to the rest of the crew.  
  
“Alright then, who wants to go next?”  
  
The crew all turned to each other as if they were expecting anyone else but them to get jabbed.  
  
Rachel then stepped forward, rolling up her sleeve and exposing her vein.  
  
Henry nodded and sterilized the area.  
  
“You’re gonna feel a small prick…”  
  
“It’s fine Henry, it’s not like I haven’t been pricked before.”  
  
Alice chuckled while Eleanor rolled her eyes. Henry drew out blood and then wrote Rachel’s name on the vial.  
  
Gary had his blood drawn next, then Eleanor’s. The whole operation having three phasers pointed at the doomed doctor.  
  
“Alice, it’s your turn.” the captain spoke as he rubbed where he was pricked.  
  
Alice kept her gaze away from the doctor “I’m not getting my blood drawn! What if he tries to attack me!?”  
  
“As captain…” Gary began, but he need not finish as Alice begrudgingly rolled up her sleeve as Henry sterilized and drew blood.  
  
“Now for the hard part…” Henry spoke as he wrote on Alice’s syringe “My own blood…”  
  
Henry rolled up his own sleeve and sterilized the site, but he hesitated jabbing himself.  
  
“Rachel? Can you…”  
  
Rachel gently smiled as she took the syringe and jabbed Henry with the needle. The doctor winced as he got pricked but it was over in just a second. With the blood finally withdrawn, Henry gave the vials over to Rachel.  
  
“Alright, we have everyone’s blood now.” Alice stated “Can we _now_ kick him off the ship?!”  
  
“Can I just grab somethings from quarters so I can die in space peacefully?!”  
  
“Yes Henry, you can.” Gary spoke.  
  
Like a man on death row, Henry was escorted to the Crew Cabin and he made his way to his bunk. He grabbed a music player and some photographs from home and stuffed them into his pockets. He also grabbed his rarely used IA MultiTool and strapped it to his belt.  
  
“Henry?” Rachel began.  
  
“Yes Rachel?”   
  
“Don’t you want some final meal or drink before you go?”  
  
Henry thought for a moment but then gently shook his head “No Rachel, I’ll be fine without a last meal.”  
  
Rachel hung her head as Henry grabbed his helmet and put it on.  
  
“Alright Captain, I’m ready to be discharged.”  
  
Gary nodded and the four led Henry though the Cafeteria, past Admin and the Kitchen towards Storage. Henry made his way to the garbage airlock and crawled in, going fetal due to how cramped it was.  
  
“Does anyone have anything to say before we send Henry into space?” The captain asked.  
  
“I do” Rachel spoke as she walked up to the disposal. Her gazed locked on to the eyes of Henry and she could see a single tear drip from his eyes. Not wanting to look at the still conscious doctor, she tightly closed her eyes and laced her fingers as if she was about to pray.  
  
“Through the great goodness of whatever powers there be that control the universe, may they pardon Henry for whatever sins have been committed by him. And if we are wrong about our decision, may those powers pardon us for our mis-judgement.”  
  
Rachel unlaced her hands as she stepped away from the airlock. Gary then sighed and lifted up the cover that would activate the airlock. Closing his eyes, he slammed on the button and the doors space-side flew open and sent Henry into the vacuum of space to meet his uncertain fate.  
  
Everyone watched the doctor vanish into the blackness while Rachel was trying not to cry. Eleanor and Alice turned their backs to the window. Gary simply sighed.  
  
The cadet solemnly took out her tablet and started a timer for six hours, the same time she gave for Louise when she was ejected.  
  
“Alright everyone…” Gary began “There’s only four of us left. Keep your phases set to kill at all times. Alice, you stay with me. Eleanor, you watch over Rachel.”  
  
“Oh there is NO way I’m staying close to you _Captain!_ I don’t want to be paired with someone who could potentially kill me!”  
  
Gary turned to the cadet “Rachel, are you fine with Eleanor being with you?”  
  
Rachel turned towards the purple communications officer. She had a hesitant smile but didn’t seem as threatening as Alice or as overly formal as Gary.  
  
“I’m fine with Eleanor being with me.”  
  
“Alright then. What are you gonna do now?”  
  
Rachel held up the six vials of blood “I’m going to take these to the med bay and put them in a safe place.”  
  
Gary smiled “Alright then. Alice, come with me to Navigation or you can go to the Shields if you…”  
  
“I’m going to the Shields” Alice barked as she stormed out of Storage.  
  
Gary then went down the same path to go to Navigation while Eleanor and Rachel walked towards the Cafeteria to make their way to Medbay.  
  
“Who did you vote for?” Eleanor asked as the pair entered the Medbay.  
  
Rachel kept silent as she went over to the vial rack that had the blood of the deceased crew mates and brought it to a table as she began to search for a container.  
  
“Rachel? Did you vote for Captain Gary?”  
  
The cadet eventually found a padded case meant to hold at least vials. Carefully, she put the 12 vials into the case and sealed it tight.  
  
“Rachel…did you vote to kick Gary off the ship?”  
  
Rachel then took out a permanent marker and wrote on it.  
  
 **BLOOD OF THE CREW OF THE IA SHIP THE SKELD AFTER LANDING AT OMEGA PSI 5.5-2 _  
  
_**Eleanor then grabbed Rachel by the shoulder and turned her to face her.  
  
“RACHEL! WHO DID YOU VOTE FOR?!”   
  
“I DIDN’T VOTE _FOR_ ANYONE!!” Rachel shouted as she freed herself from Eleanor’s grasp.  
  
Eleanor blinked in confusion “But there were five votes…”  
  
Rachel groaned “I voted, but not _for_ Henry to be ejected. I voted _against_ Henry to be ejected.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“I don’t think that Henry nor Gary were responsible…but I couldn’t just not vote.”  
  
Eleanor sighed “I understand, but what if Gary was voted off? Do you really want Alice running the ship?”  
  
“Does it matter who runs the ship?! Does it matter who’s in charge? No! What matters is that half of the crew has died, two have been kicked off and the rest of us don’t trust anyone else!”  
  
The communications officer frowned “I understand Rachel…it’s not right.”  
  
The cadet hung her head “If only we can find out what happened I’d be at peace. If I could know if Louise and Henry were truly guilty I could be happier.”  
  
Eleanor stepped forward and hugged Rachel.  
  
“It’s ok, this will all be over soon.”  
  
The two quietly embraced and Rachel slowly calmed until Eleanor let go.  
  
“C’mon Rachel. Maybe we can dig into the Pavlovas now.”  
  
Rachel smiled as she followed Eleanor into the Cafeteria, the fates of Henry and Louise slowly fading into the back of her head and hoping that it was all going to be ok.


	7. Chapter 7

“ _Take a look at the lawman  
_ _Beating up the wrong guy  
_ _Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know  
_ _He's in the best selling show  
_ _Is there life on Mars?”  
  
_ Henry sighed as he drifted off into the black void of space and listened to some final songs as he waited for his oxygen to deplete. He neither tried to breath as little as possible to extend his already faltering lifespan nor did he increase his breathing rate in an attempt to get his doom over with. He would die like a gentleman, without fear or worry about what would be on the other side.

“Was I responsible?” Henry asked himself “Did I unknowingly kill my fellow crew members? Was I exposed to the microbes on the planet and have they taken me over? Are they making me ask these questions to sow doubt? Were they conscious killings or not?”  
  
The questions bored into Henry’s brain like a rabbit hole as a silvery hope came into view. Radar had previously stated that there had been no other craft for miles but sometimes errors occurred. If picked up by another ship, he would have been safe and prepared to go home. However, due to the possibility of contamination he worried whether or not he’d expose the new ship’s crew to whatever was on OmegaPsi 5.5-2.

Unfortunately, what Henry saw approaching him was not another ship but instead a satellite. A buoy of information drifting in the vast sea of space. And it was covered in several pointy antennas.  
  
Very sharp pointy antennas coming right at Henry.  
  
His eyes widened as he tried to futilely “swim” away from the oncoming satellite but without momentum he was certainly going to collide with it. With a painful thud, a flat portion of the satellite slammed into him. Landing on the satellite felt like tripping and landing on the floor, painful but not heavily detrimental.  
  
After catching his breath, Henry began to get his bearings and noticed a few bloodstains that had splashed against the tarnished metal of the satellite. He looked up at one of the antennas and saw a familiar form.  
  
It was Louise. Or more like what was left of her. Her body having been impaled on one of the antennas of the satellite. She had been punctured in the stomach, which might not have instantly killed her but a hole in a suit would have depleted her oxygen supply rapidly.  
  
Henry grabbed onto on of the antennas and looked around him. Little light in space, stranded on a deserted island of a satellite and only a corpse for company. No way to send a SOS, no bottle to put a message in, nothing. He was stuck with nothing but metal and several compressed containers of Nitrogen strapped to the side.  
  
Ready to throw in the towel, Henry laid on the side of the satellite and waited for death to come whenever it would.  
  
As his eyes began to shut as he waited for the blanket of death to take him away, his eyes immediately focused on the valve for the tanks. Satellites like these were only serviced about once an earth year and whoever did the last maintenance job forgot to reattach the safety cover for the connection to one of the tanks to the satellite. The particular tank was right beside Louise’s corpse was the tank so all he had to do was break the valve and hold on tight.  
  
Henry climbed up the satellite and quietly made his way up to Louise’s body. With his IA multi tool he began to sever the mounts that secured the nitrogen tanks to the satellite. Due to not having rope, Henry took off Louise’s utility belt and used it to attach him to the tank.  
  
“Sorry Louise” He spoke as he tightened himself to the tank as tight as possible.  
  
As he undid the final connections, he folded up his IA multitool and began slamming against the valve to break it.  
  
As he did so, his oxygen alert meter went off in his suit.  
  
 **WARNING: OXYGEN LEVEL AT 20 PERCENT**  
  
Henry was working up quite a sweat in space, and was so focused on his work that he failed to notice the eyes that were staring at him in the void.

**WARNING: OVER EXERTION OF BODY WILL DEPLETE OXYGEN FASTER  
  
** “Like I don’t know that!” Henry shouted as he kept banging.  
  
The valve began to bend a bit more after persistent manipulation.  
  
 **WARNING: OXYGEN LEVEL AT 15 PERCENT. PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR CRAFT.  
  
** “I’M TRYING TO RETURN TO MY C- _GURRRKK!!_ ”  
  
Henry let go of his tool and it began to float away as a pair of thin but powerful hands curled around his neck.  
  
“ _Yooou BASTAHD!_ ” A shrill and distorted female voice shouted. It was a somewhat familiar tone and one he knew well. He looked in the reflection of the metal of the satellite and tried to see who could be choking him.  
  
All he saw was a pink smudge stained with blood and with out it’s utility belt.  
  
 _“I ShOULD have KIELD YEW FIRST!”  
  
_ Henry kept choking and his oxygen was running out too.  
  
 **WARNING: OXYGEN LEVEL AT 10 PERCENT. RETURN TO YOUR CRAFT IMMEDIATELY  
  
** Henry started gurgling as the grip around his neck became tighter. The valve was soon to fail but without his tool he was dead. If only he could ask for someone else’s tool!  
  
And then it hit him.  
  
He reached for Louise’s belt and grabbed her tool and slammed it against the valve. It began to leak freezing nitrogen and was almost ready to snap.  
  
 **WARNING: OXYGEN LEVEL CRITICAL  
  
** With one more slam, the valve broke off and Henry and began to speed away from the satellite with Louise’s death grip coming along for the journey. The grip was loosened but that was the least of his worries at the moment.  
  
Taking off was optional, landing was mandatory.  
  
-[+]-

Rachel sat in the cafeteria with her Series 47 Hand Phaser in her hand, ready to shoot at anyone that came her way. The Captain and Eleanor were in Navigation while Alice was hovering near the lower engine lest the need to abandon The Skeld was necessary.  
  
Sal’s Pavlovas remained uneaten on the center cafeteria table but Rachel’s appetite was completely gone at that point in time.  
  
She missed Sal, Tommy, and especially Henry. The doctor always seemed so lonely and isolated from everyone else due to his supposed uselessness that she couldn’t help but feel bad for him.  
  
Suddenly, the doors from Weapons swished open and Eleanor appeared. Rachel aimed her phaser almost immediately.  
  
“S-STAND BACK! I’m warning you!”  
  
“Easy!” Eleanor pleaded as she put her hands up “It’s only me.”  
  
“How do I know its _really_ you though?! You might have killed Sam or Charlie!”  
  
“You could easily be the culprit as well! And nothing on this ship is going to get done if we’ve got phaser barrels at our heads.”  
  
Rachel sighed and hung her head, putting her weapon away “I guess you’re right.”  
  
Eleanor smiled and sat with Rachel.  
  
“We’ve lost plenty of good people…” Eleanor began “Tommy, Sal, Scottie. They were all good crew mates.”  
  
Rachel raised an eyebrow “But what about the others? What about Sam? Charlie? Louise? Max?”  
  
Eleanor shrugged “They weren’t as good as the others… but they weren’t as bad as Henry.”  
  
“Henry?! What’s wrong about Henry?!”  
  
Eleanor turned to Rachel “I could tell there was something sus about those four, but with Henry he seemed the most dangerous. I couldn’t detect his intentions, his desires, his fears or hates.”  
  
“He’s just a doctor! He was a part of the crew and did his job!”  
  
“Did he though?!” Eleanor asked, her tone shifting a bit “He’s not like us, he was never like us, and do you know what else?”  
  
Rachel gulped slightly “What else?”  
  
Her eyes blue eyes turned purple, her teeth grew sharp and her hair seemed to take on a mind of it’s own.  
  
“ _YOU’RE NOT LIKE US EITHER._ ”  
  
With a beastly shriek, Eleanor shot out a violet tongue towards Rachel. But despite her monstrous abilities, Rachel was able to duck the attack.  
  
The cadet pulled out her Phaser and aimed to kill but Eleanor smacked the weapon away with her tongue and then reached to swallow it with the same purple appendage.  
  
“W-WHAT ARE YOU!?” Rachel screamed as she tried to hide behind a table.  
  
“ _WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT IS ASKING WHAT ARE YOU?!_ ” Eleanor roared “ _CHARLIE, LOUISE, SAM, AND MAX ARE NOT LIKE ME. THEY MAY HAVE LINKED MINDS LIKE WE DO BUT THEY WANT TO DESTROY US JUST THE SAME. BUT YOU AND HENRY ARE DIFFERENT.”  
  
_ “D-Different from who?!”  
  
“ _DIFFERENT FROM ME, SAL, SCOTTIE, TOMMY, AN…_ ”

**_*CRASH!*  
  
_** From the window of the cafeteria was an improvised missile of a pressurized gas canister being ridden by a human figure that broke through the reinforced glass. With a hole in the ship, the pressure within the cafeteria began to whiz oxygen out into space. Rachel gasped for air and grabbed onto a table to avoid being sucked out. but it was no problem for whatever Eleanor was. However, the surprise interruption was so sudden that it stopped Eleanor’s train of thought.  
  
“ _What the f…!”_  
  
 ** _*CRICK!*  
  
_** The tank slammed into Eleanor’s head and snapped her neck with blood spraying everywhere. The liquid nitrogen tank then lodged itself into the wall and the red suited human figure that rode on it fell off and began skidding out the hole that was made.  
  
With all her might, Rachel reached out and grabbed the body as frozen parts of Eleanor began to snap into the void of space.  
  
From Weapons, Gary saw the events unfold from the window and slammed activated a button that read “SEAL ALL PASSAGES”

  
A large metal door slammed down in front of the windows for the cafeteria and shut all the doors in the ship.  
  
Rachel let go of her grasp of the cafeteria table and crawled over to the body she grabbed onto and immediately recognized who it was.  
  
“Henry?!” Rachel shouted “Dr. Rodman! Wake up!”  
  
Henry groaned as he rubbed his eyes and saw Rachel.  
  
“R-Rachel!?” Henry shouted, his voice muffled by his helmet “Don’t tell me you got killed too!”  
  
Rachel nervously chuckled “No Henry, we’re both alive.”  
  
The cadet helped the doctor up as Gary opened the door from Weapons to get a better look at the destruction.  
  
“What in the…Rachel! What happened?!”  
  
“E-Eleanor tried to kill me…” Rachel explained as she caught her breath.  
  
“A-And I…” Henry spoke as he took his helmet off “Got back to the ship…”  
  
Gary looked at the floor and picked up one of Louise’s arms.  
  
“How did you get this?!” Gary asked.  
  
“After I got ejected, I ended up colliding with a satellite and found Louise’s body impaled on it.”  
  
“Was she dead?” Rachel asked.  
  
“Not quite dead, it was just a flesh wound. But I can be certain that Louise was an imposter of some sort. No human could last several hours without oxygen with a hole in their suit.”  
  
Suddenly, a banging came from the door to storage. It was Alice, screaming as loud as she could and smacking on the door with a large wrench. Gary walked over and undid the manual lock to let her in.  
  
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” Alice screamed.  
  
Her attention then turned to Henry.  
  
“WHY IS HE BACK HERE?!”  
  
“That’s none of your concern.” Gary spoke “What is important is that Eleanor was an imposter of some sort.”  
  
“Well that’s great and all but we’ve got a bigger problem!” Alice spoke.  
  
“What’s that?” Rachel asked.  
  
A siren in the ship suddenly went off.  
  
 **WARNING: REACTOR MELTDOWN BEYOND REPAIR. SHIP MUST BE ABANDONED WITHIN 30 MINUTES FOR SAFE ESCAPE.  
  
** Henry face palmed, Rachel groaned, and Gary rolled his eyes.  
  
“Do you have anything to do with this Alice?!” Rachel shouted “Are you just trying to get us off the ship?!  
  
“Don’t pin this on me Rachel!” Alice barked “A reactor meltdown could be triggered from anywhere on the ship with the know how!”  
  
“But how could have I done so _when I was fighting off whatever Eleanor was!_ ”  
  
“Then it was Henry!”  
  
Henry just turned to Alice with an incredulous and furious glare, which caused Alice to immediately realize how stupid her accusation was.  
  
“Then it was Gary!”  
  
“OH _PLEASE!_ ” Henry groaned “You’re just saying that so you can eliminate him and be captain!”  
  
“BUT I DIDN’T DO IT!” Alice pleaded “I SWEAR!”  
  
“Then why do you have that wrench!?” asked Rachel.  
  
Alice chuckled sheepishly “Eh…just in case some was going to attack me I wanted a weapon to defend myself with.”  
  
“Were you using that to sabotage the ship?” Henry asked.  
  
Alice glared “NO! I WOULDN’T NEED A WRENCH TO SABOTAGE THIS SHIP!”  
  
“Then what _would_ you need?” Rachel asked as she crossed her arms “You’re growing more sus moment after moment!”  
  
“Alice, I know that your Court Martial after the Tsilindr Clan incident blacklisted you within the Intergalactic Alliance,” Gary began “but that doesn’t mean you have to keep that chip on your shoulder for the rest of your life! If you only admitted that you were at fault…”  
  
“ _IT WASE NAHT MAI FAUL-“_  
  
Alice shouted as her voice distorted as she began to swing her wrench towards the captain’s face, but she suddenly stopped and the weapon fell out of her hands. From her chest, drips of crimson began dripping out of her chest as Alice fell on her knees and collapsed dead onto the ground followed by the wrench landing with a painful klang.  
  
Gary sighed as he put his smoking Phaser back onto his and then brushed his suit off.  
  
“You saw her try to hit me, I fired in self defense. Is that understood?”  
  
Henry and Rachel nodded as they looked at Alice’s dead body.  
  
“Alright everyone. Gather your final belongings, we’re abandoning ship. We’ll take the remaining escape pod at the lower engine. Grab your helmets and only take what you’ll need.”  
  
Henry and Rachel nodded as the three began to run to their crew cabins and grabbed their bags to make an evacuation. While they filled them with essentials, each of them grabbed a few personal and irreplaceable belongings and anything useful that they could bring with them.  
  
Rachel grabbed some tools, the bottle of J&D she grabbed from the kitchen, some spare parts she had salvaged, all the documentation from Omega Psi 5-5.2 that she found, and the few photos of home she brought with her. Henry grabbed a first aid kit, some cans of Don Dew he had stowed away along with some snack bars, his doctor bag, some playing cards, a small case of various painkillers and other medications that weren’t his first aid kit before rushing to Medical to grab the case of blood vials that were prepared earlier. Gary meanwhile filled out a shipwreck report and was collecting the ship’s hard drive data for the IA Shipwreck report. All this time, the security system kept blaring about the reactor melt down.  
  
 **WARNING: REACTOR MELTDOWN BEYOND REPAIR. SHIP MUST BE ABANDONED IN 15 MINUTES FOR SAFE ESCAPE. MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ESCAPE PODS AT THE ENGINES.**  
  
Gary signed his tablet and put it into his bag “Alright, do we have everything we need?”  
  
“I got what I need,” Henry stated “What about you Rachel?”  
  
“I got everything, but I think we left something in the Cafeteria?”  
  
“Alright then, lets go to the cafeteria together to retrieve it.” Gary stated.  
  
The three left the Crew Cabin for the last time and made their way to the cafeteria, where Sal’s mini Pavlovas remained uneaten. Rachel carefully stepped over Alice’s body and grabbed the tray to bring it to Henry and Gary.  
  
“Alright, I’m ready.”  
  
Henry and Gary just quietly glanced at each other with the latter shrugging slightly.  
  
“We’ll eat them once we get to safety, ok Rachel?” Henry spoke.  
  
Rachel smiled and nodded as the three remaining crew members of the Intergalactic Alliance Ship The Skeld quietly but briskly made their way to the escape pod.  
  
It seated six, had a main door attached ship-side and another on top like a submarine’s hatch. It was built to be bomb proof.The cockpit had two seats and there were two benches that faced each other that sat two people. The benches acted as chests for emergency equipment such as extra oxygen, water, rations, flashlights, rope, S.O.S. buoy’s, and space life preservers. Hanging from the walls were two fire extinguishers.  
  
The three crew-members loaded their bags into the escape pod and secured them into the unused seats with Gary putting his bag in the co-pilot seat.

  
“Alright everyone,” Gary began as he put his helmet on “once we detach from The Skeld, artificial gravity is going to turn off so we’ll be floating in zero-G.”  
  
“So where are we going to?” Rachel asked as she buckled up and put her helmet on too.  
  
“The IA Outpost Polus.” Gary replied as he shut the door tight.  
  
“Good,” Henry spoke as he secured his helmet and sat across from Rachel “That way we can tell the rest of the IA to never go to Omega Psi 5-5.2.”  
  
Gary said nothing as he secured the door to the escape pod as The Skeld’s safety systems blared.  
  
 **WARNING: REACTOR MELTDOWN BEYOND REPAIR. SHIP MUST BE ABANDONED IN 5 MINUTES FOR SAFE ESCAPE. MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ESCAPE PODS AT THE ENGINES IMMEDIATELY.  
  
** With the door shut tight and Gary climbing into the pilot seat, the captain detached the escape pod from The Skeld and gunned the engines into space to get as far away from The Skeld before it exploded. The sheer force of the propulsion sent Gary deep into the pilot’s seat and his crew mates into the padded portions of their seats. Their gear shook and rattled and their bags threatened to come loose out of their restraints but they remained still.  
  
After three minutes of rocketing through space, Gary reduced the propulsion so that the escape pod could cruise through the blackness of space to their destination.  
  
Gary undid his restraints and slowly floated over to check on Rachel and Henry. The two had unbuckled themselves to look through the porthole of their escape pod and tried to see if their once faithful ship was still in view.  
  
Instead, all they saw was a faint explosion and the feeling of a slight push of pressure as The Skeld blew up in the darkness of space.  
  
“It’s gone…” Rachel spoke, painfully sighing as she spoke.  
  
“It was a good ship, but our lives were more important thank keeping her running.” Henry then slumped in his seat and rubbed his head “If we knew that visiting that planet would kill most of us I bet we would have never gone in the first place.”  
  
“Me too…”  
  
“That place is infested with parasites…one false move and you could be infected with a murderous beast.”  
  
“Parasites?” Gary asked “There were no parasites on 0ur planet.”  
  
Henry and Rachel turned to Gary in confusion.  
  
“ _Your_ planet?” Henry asked.  
  
“Y0u…YoU WERE THE PARASI7ES!”  
  
Henry and Louise stared at the captain in shock as his eyes glowed orange and fog began to cover his visor.  
  
“Y0U VVERE THE 1NVAD3RS! Y0U’RE NOT LIKE WHAT 5AL, NOR SC0TTIE, OR 7OMMY, NOR EVEN ELEAN0R! Y0U WEREN’T ONE 0F US AND YOU WEREN’T EVEN ONE OF 7HEM!”  
  
“THEM?!” Henry asked as he began reaching for his Phaser.  
  
“THE EL1MINATORS! TH0SE WHO TRIED T0 EXTERMINATE US! THEY TR1ED TO LOCK U5 OUT BUT WE GOT 1N!”  
  
Gary’s arms bent backwards, his neck bent at an abnormal ankles, he began to walk with his knees and his spine began bending backwards.  
  
“BUT Y0U ARE W0RSE! 1NVADER! D0MINATOR! PURG…”  
  
Gary’s voice then became intelligible as his dialogue mutated into an incomprehensible cacophony as his suit began to tear at the chest.  
  
Henry and Rachel pulled out their Phasers but two crimson spears stabbed them against the wall as tentacles poured out of Gary’s belly and began wrapping around Rachel and Henry’s necks. They choked and dangled their feet as the tentacles pushed them against the walls.  
  
“I’LL K1LL YOU F1R5T HENRY!” Spoke a mutilated form of language from Gary. More spears began stabbing the doctor in the legs and arms to pin him against the wall. The beastly and bloody maw began to drool with delight.  
  
“N0 M0RE H1DING WHAT I TRU1Y AM!”  
  
Rachel, struggling for what little air she had tried to reach above herself for one of the fire extinguishers that hung from the ceiling.  
  
Henry bled from the mouth as he stared into the face of the creature. Orange eyes staring right into his soul.  
  
“N-No…!” Henry gasped.  
  
The beast lunged, but there was a spray of extinguisher foam that blinded the creature. As Henry hung from the wall, Rachel bashed Gary’s mutated form with the fire extinguisher. Pounding, smashing, denting, cracking bone and bashing organs of the false captain.  
  
The grip loosened around Henry’s neck but he still remained stuck to the wall, blood seeping through the stabs from Gary’s form.  
  
The doctor’s vision slowly faded but he watched as Rachel grabbed Gary’s phaser and fired relentlessly into the body of the beast. Blood drenched her white suit and splattered over her IA emblem and visor. She screamed with every bash, anger and fear seeping out of her with every swing.  
  
But the pain and exhaustion began to take over Henry’s body as his began to close.

  
With his vision blurred, he saw was Rachel turning to Henry and breaking off the spears that pinned the doctor to the wall.  
  
“H-HENRY!” She pleaded “D-DON’T DIE!”  
  
The last thing he saw was Rachel tearing open the first aid kit and spilling out tourniquets and bandages and painkillers on to the escape pod’s floor.  
  
“W-WE’LL GET TO POLUS TOGETHER!” She shrieked, tears running down her face.  
  
The doctor’s body went limp, and sounds began to quiet. He felt like it was the big sleep coming to take him to bed then and there.  
  
Rachel hung her head in shame.  
  
“I-i’m sorry I couldn’t save you…”  
  
The cadet’s vision then turned towards the cockpit and a blinding light entered her view. It was a drop-ship with the IA logo it with a tractor beam gun attached to the front. It grabbed the escape pod and began dragging it to it’s home base.  
  
Exhausted, covered in blood and in foam, but extremely relieved; Rachel flopped onto the floor of the escape pod with the blissful knowledge of knowing that whatever had happened to her, it was all over.


	8. Chapter 8

The sounds of beeping and pumping filled the Medbay of the IA base on Polus. Three of the beds were filled with the bodies of the crew of the escape pod. In the corner of the room was the Medbay scanner and the bags that the crew brought with them during their escape.  
  
“Will she be alright?” A male voice spoke.  
  
“Just let her rest,”a female voice replied “We won’t ask questions until she comes to.”  
  
The two left the Medbay and Rachel began to rub her eyes as the noise of the unfamiliar figures had awoken her. She had been undressed, given new undergarments, and put into a hospital gown. She looked at her hands and saw a medical wristband that had information printed onto it.  
  
 **PATIENT: RACHEL JUNO  
RANK: ASSISTANT MECHANIC-CADET  
NOTES: INOCULATED  
  
**“Inoculated?” Rachel wondered. She then took a whiff of the air around her and turned to where the odor was coming from and shrieked at what she saw.  
  
To her left was the mutated body of Gary, deformed and drenched in blood. His eyes had retracted and fluid bled from the sockets.  
  
“AHH!”  
  
She scurried off of her bed and into the bed that was next to her, where a red gloved and wrist-banded hand slumped off the gurney.  
  
Catching her breath, she looked at the wristband.  
  
 **PATIENT: DR. HENRY MCKIDD RODMAN  
RANK: CHIEF PHYSICIAN  
NOTES: INOCULATED  
  
**The cadet then looked up at Henry, and gasped when she saw that his face had been covered with the gurney blanket.  
  
“Did you hear a shriek?” The male voice asked.  
  
“Maybe she’s awake…?” The female voice replied.  
  
The doors swung open and two figures entered. The first was an asian woman with glasses, black hair, and a red suit; the second figure was a white man with red hair in a dark blue suit.  
  
“Rachel! Are you ok?” The female doctor asked as she helped Rachel up.  
  
“I-I’m fine, I just got startled by t-that…” Rachel replied as he pointed to what was left of Gary.  
  
“Him?” The male security officer asked “Oh don’t worry, he’s completely dead.”  
  
“Dead?” Spoke a familiar voice as Henry’s body began to rise.  
  
“AHHHH!!!!” Rachel shouted as Henry uncovered his face.  
  
“Easy there Rachel!” The security officer spoke, holding her hand “My are you jumpy…”  
  
“Well considering what she had to deal with…” The female doctor began before turning to Henry “Hello Doctor Rodman, how do you feel?”  
  
Henry peeled off the blanket and revealed that he had bandages wrapped around his arms and legs. He gave each of his limbs and fingers a bend to check if they were in working order.  
  
“They’re alright doctor.”  
  
“That’s good. I’m Doctor Ellen Lilly and this is head of security Danny Peterson.”  
  
“Pleasure to meet ya and welcome to Polus!” The blue suited member greeted, extending his hand out.  
  
Henry was reluctant to shake Danny’s hand.  
  
“Y-you’re gonna have to kill me… aren’t you?”  
  
Ellen and Danny looked at each other in confusion.  
  
“Why do you say that?” Danny asked with a nervous chuckle “It’s not like you leaked government secrets or something. News of the dangers on Omega Psi 5-5.2 has begun to rapidly spread throughout the Intergalactic Alliance. You won’t be forced to keep your mouth shut.”  
  
“It’s not that” Henry replied as he shook his head “I-I’m one of them now. Captain Gary…or what was him rather… he attacked me. Stabbed me. Injected me. _Infected me._ A-all the work I did to try to get back safely was for nothing.”  
  
Rachel’s eyes widened in shock as Henry hung his head.  
  
“Well Henry,” Ellen spoke as she pulled up a chair and sat in front of him “You…and Rachel were both infected.”  
  
“W-what?!” Henry shouted.

  
“W-we’re both gonna be killed?!”  
  
“No!” Danny spoke “You two are perfectly fine!”  
  
“We are?!” Rachel asked “But if…”  
  
“The thing is…” Ellen began “We looked over the blood samples that Henry collected and we found out something rather unusual.”  
  
“And that is?” Henry asked.  
  
“When the crew of The Skeld first landed on the planet, it would have been inevitable for the crew to be exposed to either the Omega strain or the Psi strain. After analyzing the blood samples, we found out which of the crew members were exposed to which strain.”  
  
“Sal, Scottie, Tommy, Eleanor and Captain Gary were all infected with the Omega strain.” Danny explained“Dr. Max, Louise, Charlie, Sam and Alice were all infected with the Psi strain.”  
  
“What about us?” Rachel asked.  
  
“You got infected with both.” Ellen replied.  
  
“BOTH?!” Henry and Rachel shouted simultaneously.  
  
“That’s right, both” Ellen spoke with a nod “We analyzed your blood samples and saw evidence of both strains.”  
  
“So what does that mean for us?” Henry asked.  
  
“According to looking at the documentation that Rachel found, it means that the infections didn’t do anything to your genetics.”  
  
“But why?”  
  
“Well according to the photos of the planet that Rachel brought, it seems that the Omegas and Psis were such bitter enemies that their animosity towards each other continued at a genetic level. Because the Omega and Psi strains both infected your bodies and rather early during your exposure to the planet, instead of taking over your body as a host the strains instead focused on trying to eliminate the other. The consequence of this is that the battle gave your body time to produce antibodies to defend against both strains of the infection and neutralizing them.”  
  
Henry scratched his chin as Rachel looked increasingly relieved.  
  
“So…Rachel and I are safe?”   
  
Danny and Ellen nodded.  
  
Rachel grinned and raised her hands in joy but she got startled by the corpse of Captain Gary.  
  
“W-w-w-what are you going to do with the body of the captain?” Rachel asked.  
  
“We’re gonna put it in a body bag and bring it to the Laboratory” Danny spoke “We’ll keep a special eye on it just in case it isn’t truly dead.”  
  
“It should be dead,” Rachel spoke “I beat the hell out of it with a fire extinguisher and then shot it several times.”  
  
“Well we can’t be too careful!” Danny replied.  
  
Henry and Rachel smiled as Ellen prepared a body bag for Gary’s corpse.  
  
“You two must have used a lot of energy.” Danny spoke “I’ll have the cook prepare something nice for you two.”  
  
Danny left the room as Ellen printed out a label for Gary’s body bag.  
  
 **PATIENT: GARY WILLIAMS  
RANK: CAPTAIN  
NOTES: DECEASED-PRESERVE FOR RESEARCH  
  
**Ellen then detached the Medbay gurney from the wall and moved it out of the room as not to disturb the remaining crew of The Skeld nor the crew on Polus.  
  
Henry got off of his bed and carefully got his footing before making way over to his bag to pull to grab something. He pulled out his deck of playing cards but also noticed a bottle of J&D whiskey sticking out of Rachel’s bag.  
  
“Where did you get this?”  
  
“I found it in the kitchen after Sal died.” Rachel sheepishly replied.  
  
Henry chuckled as he grabbed the bottle along with a pair of fresh dental cups and brought them over to Rachel and poured each a glass.  
  
“Say,” Henry began “What happened to the Mini Pavolas?”  
  
Rachel looked at their bags and saw that the desserts were gone.  
  
“I don’t know, maybe Ellen took them away to make sure they weren’t infected?”  
  
“That’s exactly what happened.” A new voice spoke from the entrance of the Medbay.  
  
A young asian man in a brown uniform rolled a cart into the Medbay with several trays of food covered with cloches and a few bottles of Don Dew and water.  
  
“Doctor Lilly put the treats into the analyzer and found no trace of any infectious materials on them. I gave them a brief touch up and made them presentable.”  
  
The cook lifted up the middle cloche and showed off Sal’s final creation to Henry and Rachel, the food looking as good as it did before it was going to be served. The pair each reached for one of the treats as the cook lifted the other cloches up to reveal servings of pasta with meatballs and salads.  
  
“I hope the food is to your liking.”  
  
“It’s fine” Henry replied with a smile.  
  
Rachel smiled as he took a salad and began to munch “Thank you for making us food mister…”  
  
“Trussing, Lee Trussing” The chef said with a smile “Anyway, enjoy your food! I gotta get the captain his coffee.”  
  
Henry and Rachel waved goodbye at the chef as he exited the medbay. Henry dug into his spaghetti as Rachel sipped her glass of J&D.  
  
“Well then…” Henry began “What should we do now?”  
  
Rachel sipped her whiskey “I dunno, lets just wait here for a little while and see what happens.”  
  
Henry smiled as they sat in their beds and enjoyed their meals, happy with the fact that they knew that they were themselves and no one else.

The End


End file.
